Carnegie Classifications to Make Major Changes in How Colleges and Universities are Grouped and Recognized; Set Clear Threshold for Highest Level of Research

The American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have announced a series of changes to modernize the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (Carnegie Classifications), the framework used for five decades to classify American colleges and universities. The iteration of the Carnegie Classifications that will be released in early 2025 will revise the Basic Classification, which generally places all U.S. colleges and universities into groups based on the highest degree awarded, to create new, multi-dimensional groupings of institutions that go beyond a single label. The 2025 Carnegie Classifications will also make significant changes to how research is recognized, including to the methodology that determines whether an institution is classified as R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production.

Link to full press release.