Reclassification at Carnegie

The more things change, the more ... well, the more likely some people will applaud and some will hiss. And that's been the case with new changes made to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the main "taxonomy" of American colleges and universities.

The listing is a primary tool for researchers of higher education (and also the foundation for U.S. News & World Report's annual school rankings). The overhaul meant that roughly 640 schools were reclassified, mostly those institutions awarding doctoral degrees. And while some schools are pleased with their new classifications, others feel their categorizations don't fairly capture their full identity.

Jacki Calvert, a Carnegie spokesperson, says the classification s architects know the new approach isn't perfect. Between a preliminary version published in early summer and the final version published in October, some schools were allowed to alter their listings, she said.

The update was needed because the classification hadn't changed in six years and was woefully out of date. The foundation wanted to address two points with this new version: put more emphasis on schools' teaching and the numbers and types of degrees they award, and focus less on how much research they perform or federal research funds they receive.

For instance, the old classification divided research and doctoral institutions into four categories, heavily influenced by the amount of federal support they received. The new version has two classifications: doctoral extensive (schools that award at least 50 Ph.D.'s a year in more than 15 disciplines); and doctoral intensive (schools that confer many fewer doctorates in only two or three disciplines).

Calvert stresses that this is an "interim" classification and that a planned 2005 version will have greater scope. That listing will place schools into several categories and include an interactive facility that will enable users to generate their own customized classifications.

Still, for institutions that feel aggrieved by the new classification, five years may seem like a long wait. Again, the foundation is sympathetic but doubts that annual updates are likely because it "lacks the staff and resources" to accomplish such a feat.

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Nov 2000
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