WASHINGTON, DC (November 1, 2023) – Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) congratulates the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation) on their announcement of a modernization of the 2025 Carnegie Classifications following a thorough and inclusive review process undertaken by ACE.
Among the many changes, the new classification system will include a clearer quantitative methodology to distinguish between R1 and R2, awarding any institution with more than $50 million in research spend and 70 research doctorates awarded being designated as an R1 institution, as opposed to the previous methodology that placed schools in competition with other institutions and included various ancillary metrics that made achieving R1 status an opaque and cost-prohibitive proposition for many research institutions.
“We at TMCF were proud to be one of the first organizations that engaged with ACE and the Carnegie Foundation after they announced their partnership at our Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Presidents and Chancellors Fly-in in 2022,” said Thurgood Marshall College Fund President and CEO Dr. Harry L. Williams. “That initial engagement was followed by numerous smaller group conversations over the next year with our HBCU member-schools and on campus visits. During those meetings, a consistent message about the need for greater transparency in the Carnegie methodology was delivered by HBCU leaders and taken seriously into consideration by ACE and the Carnegie Foundation. The increased transparency of this process will give colleges who desire to reach R1 status a clear picture of what is required and allow leadership to better develop their strategic plans and marshall resources to achieve their institutional goals.”
Additionally, we are pleased that the Carnegie classification will now include a new designation known as “Research Colleges and Universities,” which will recognize consequential research being done at universities that do not offer many doctoral degrees.
For more detailed information on the new methodology please read the original release by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching here.
