The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education ®Announcements
New consolidated home for all Carnegie Classifications
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education (ACE) are excited to be collaborating on the next incarnation of the Carnegie Classifications. For the first time, overall administration of the Universal and Elective Classifications have been brought together in a single organizational home at ACE.
The two organizations are working together to develop new and refined versions of the Classifications to better reflect the public purpose, mission, focus, and impact of higher education. In 2024, two Universal classifications will be released: an updated version of the Basic classification and a new Social and Economic Mobility classification. Additionally, new Elective classifications for Community Engagement and Leadership for Public Purpose will also be released. Ongoing updates and information about the 2024 Carnegie Classifications can be found under News and FAQ.
To support the development and revision of the Universal classifications, ACE and Carnegie are assembling formal advisory groups to provide ideas and feedback. Read about the launch of a Technical Review Panel and an Institutional Roundtable that will provide expert input for the 2024 Classifications. The list of Technical Review Panel members and the list of Institutional Roundtable members are also available under News and FAQ.
2021 Carnegie Classification Updates
Revisions have been posted as follows:
- Version 1: December 15, 2021 – Public Review version released
- Version 2: December 21, 2021 – Fixed a few noted glitches
- Version 3: January 5, 2022 – More glitch fixes and requested and approved changes
- Version 4: January 26, 2022 – More glitch fixes and requested and approved changes
- Version 5: February 2, 2022 – Public Review period ended
- Version 6: February 18, 2022 – Minor fixes to Ugrad Profiles, Size & Setting, prior year classifications fixes; 2 institutions recovered
- Version 7: May 2, 2022 – Name changes and some final clean-up
- Version 8: June 17, 2022 – One institution that had suspended degrees added
- Version 9: September 2, 2022 – Name changes, one corrected classification, and clarifications on the variables and values tabs. Two additional updates (9/9/22).
We will not be making major changes until the next update, but we monitor name changes. We also welcome questions, comments, and glitch reports about the Classifications and the web site. Please contact as at carnegie@acenet.edu if you have any questions.
Data Sources
The 2021 Classification update is based on the following data sources:
- IPEDS 2019-20 Completions
- IPEDS Fall 2020 Enrollment (preliminary)
- IPEDS Fall 2020 Human Resources (preliminary file)
- FY20 NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey*
- FY19 NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS)
About the Carnegie Classification®
The Carnegie Classification® has been the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past four and a half decades. Starting in 1970, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed a classification of colleges and universities to support its program of research and policy analysis. Derived from empirical data on colleges and universities, the Carnegie Classification was originally published in 1973, and subsequently updated in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018 and 2021 to reflect changes among colleges and universities. This framework has been widely used in the study of higher education, both as a way to represent and control for institutional differences, and also in the design of research studies to ensure adequate representation of sampled institutions, students, or faculty.
Elective Community Engagement Classification
The Elective Classification on Community Engagement is under the stewardship of ACE. Click here.
Using the Site
The menus at the top (in full screen mode) or through the menu icon above right (smaller views) provide access to extensive documentation as well as tools for looking up specific institutions, listing all institutions in a particular classification category, aggregating categories within a classification, and examining points of intersection across two or more classifications.
More Usage Guidelines
Recommended Citation (APA Format)
Current Version
Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research (n.d.). The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2021 edition, Bloomington, IN: Author.
Web Site
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (n.d.). About Carnegie Classification. Retrieved (date optional) from https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/.
