The long-awaited research activity tier list from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is here, and it awarded 187 institutions the venerated R1 status, 41 more than in 2021. The seismic uptick is partially due to a considerable classification restructuring done in partnership with American Council on Education.
“These updates to the Carnegie Classifications are the first step to bring a decades-old system into the 21st century,” said Timothy F.C. Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation. “We are expanding our recognition of the range of ways colleges and universities engage in research and development.”
Three classifications make up the new tier list, the last of which is new.
- Research 1: Very High Spending and Doctorate Production (R1): For institutions that spend at least $50 million in research and award 70 research doctorates annually.
- Research 2: High Spending and Doctorate Production (R2): Institutions must spend at least $5 million in research and award 20 research doctorates a year. This year, 139 institutions received this designation.
- Research Colleges and Universities (RCU): Non-R1 or -R2 spending more than $2.5 million on research annually. It aims to identify research institutions previously unrecognized and which do not offer doctoral degrees. It accounts for 218 institutions.
“Instead of limiting research designations to the select institutions that award PhDs, all types of colleges and universities will now be celebrated for their research contributions,” said Ted Mitchell, president of ACE.
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Among some of the new R1 universities were the University of Vermont, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Saint Louis University and the University of Rhode Island. “Attaining R1 status will extend UVM’s ability to attract the best talent, secure groundbreaking grants, and contribute to solving global challenges,” said Patricia Prelock, interim president of the University of Vermont, which attracted $266 million in research funding for the 2024 fiscal year.
Howard University became the first HBCU to be recognized with R1 distinction, and Central State University—Ohio’s only public HBCU and 1890 Land-Grant Institution—received RCU classification. Research expenditures at the latter topped $11.1 million in fiscal year 2023, according to a press release sent to University Business.
The Carnegie classification has existed in some form since 1973, changing its methodology and structure over the years. Leaders at Carnegie and ACE pursued a considerable change to the tier system to create transparency surrounding the requirements and avoid “unproductive competition between colleges and universities,” said Mushtaq Gunja, executive director of the Carnegie Classification systems and senior vice president at ACE.
“Now, the designations are more straightforward, and we are hopeful they will better capture the wide array of institutions whose missions include research.”
View the full list of institutions recognized by Carnegie and ACE here.
