Reflections on the UK 'Carnegie Classification'

I posted yesterday on how UK universities and higher education institutions would map onto the US Carnegie classifications. That post simply presented the data; its worth a little reflection on what the data show.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the Doctoral classification is the biggest, but there is more differentiation than I expected. When I did a similar exercise 15-20 years ago there weren’t any UK HEI’s in the Masters or Baccalaureate categories - every institutions was R1 or R2 (in the old Carnegie scheme). This reflects the broadening of the pool in the UK (there are more universities now than there were); but also, perhaps, the more selective approach to funding of research studentships. Some of the institutions which are now Master's universities made the Doctoral cut, if I remember correctly, on the old classification.

Also not present in this list are HE and FE Colleges, which between them would occupy the Baccalaureate category, the Baccalaureate/Associate’s category and the Associate’s category. In the UK the equivalent of the Associate's category is Foundation Degrees and foundation years, but the principle remains the same. Its clear that if you want to understand the breadth of UK HE you need to look at HE delivered in FE Colleges. This is a challenge to most of the usual narratives about UK higher education; perhaps it reflects the university-sector 'ownership' of some sector wide bodies such as UCAS, HESA etc. (I'm using 'ownership' loosely here.)

And of course, as the UK did most of its historical oppressing in countries which are now sovereign, there isn’t an equivalent of the Tribal Colleges category.

Is this a useful analytical framework? At the moment the categories used are often driven by mission groups. Whilst membership of these is in part driven by data, it isn't transparent. And as mission groups are clubs not leagues, there isn't often relegation, although promotion does happen. (Remember the expansion of the Russell Group in 2012). Perhaps we need a UK equivalent, to allow for more transparent analysis of the section and how it is developing?

Mapping UK universities against the US Carnegie Classifications

In 1970 the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed a framework for analysing university and colleges, to facilitate research and policy development on higher education. The framework has continued to be developed by higher education researchers in the US. As England’s HE policy framework begins to approximate the US – with an increasing emphasis on diversity of institution, market entry and exit, and the student as consumer – in this blog I’m looking at the US classifications, what they tell us, and how the UK’s HEI’s would map onto the Carnegie classification.

The current Carnegie Classifications – using a methodology last significantly updated in 2005 – divide universities and colleges into seven broad classes. In some classes there is further differentiation by scale of activity. These are:

Doctoral University (with subclasses R1, R2, R3 defined by scale)	Institutions that award at least 20 PhD/DPhil degrees per year
Master’s University (with subclasses M1, M2, M3 defined by scale)	Institutions that award at last 50 Master’s degrees per year
Baccalaureate Colleges	Institutions where bachelor’s degrees made up more than 50% of degrees awarded
Baccalaureate/Associates Colleges	Institutions with at last one Bachelor’s programme and with more than 50% of awards at the Associate degree level
Associate's Colleges	Institutions whose highest qualification awarded was an Associate degree
Special Focus Institutions	Institutions where more than 75% of degree awards relates to a single field or set of related fields
Tribal Colleges	Institutions which are members of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium

The first four categories are applied hierarchically: if you’re doctoral, you’re not counted in Masters; if you’re Master’s, you’re not counted in Baccalaureate, even though numerically you’d meet both sets of criteria.

An associate degree is a two-year undergraduate qualification. Typically it would equate to the first two years of the four-year baccalaureate degree. 

Using HESA data from 2015-16, it’s possible to match UK institutions to these categories. I haven’t done the detailed analysis required to categorise Doctoral universities as RE1, R2 or R3; or Master’s universities similarly. 

All UK HEI’s – or at least those which reported to HESA in 2015-16 – fall within one of the Doctoral, Master’s, Baccalaureate or Specialist classes. Here’s the classification. 

Doctoral Universities

• Aberystwyth University
• Anglia Ruskin University
• Aston University
• Bangor University
• Birkbeck College
• Birmingham City University
• Bournemouth University
• Brunel University London
• Canterbury Christ Church University
• Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Cardiff University
• City, University of London
• Coventry University
• Cranfield University
• De Montfort University
• Edinburgh Napier University
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Goldsmiths College
• Heriot-Watt University
• Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
• Keele University
• King's College London
• Kingston University
• Leeds Beckett University
• Liverpool John Moores University
• London Metropolitan University
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• London South Bank University
• Loughborough University
• Middlesex University
• Newcastle University
• Oxford Brookes University
• Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
• Queen Mary University of London
• Roehampton University
• Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
• Sheffield Hallam University
• St George's, University of London
• Staffordshire University
• Swansea University
• Teesside University
• The Institute of Cancer Research
• The Manchester Metropolitan University
• The Nottingham Trent University
• The Open University
• The Queen's University of Belfast
• The Robert Gordon University
• The School of Oriental and African Studies
• The University of Aberdeen
• The University of Bath
• The University of Birmingham
• The University of Bradford
• The University of Brighton
• The University of Bristol
• The University of Buckingham
• The University of Cambridge
• The University of Central Lancashire
• The University of Dundee
• The University of East Anglia
• The University of East London
• The University of Edinburgh
• The University of Essex
• The University of Exeter
• The University of Glasgow
• The University of Greenwich
• The University of Huddersfield
• The University of Hull
• The University of Kent
• The University of Lancaster
• The University of Leeds
• The University of Leicester
• The University of Lincoln
• The University of Liverpool†
• The University of Manchester
• The University of Northampton
• The University of Oxford
• The University of Portsmouth
• The University of Reading
• The University of Salford
• The University of Sheffield
• The University of Southampton
• The University of St Andrews
• The University of Stirling
• The University of Strathclyde
• The University of Sunderland
• The University of Surrey
• The University of Sussex
• The University of Warwick
• The University of Westminster
• The University of Wolverhampton
• The University of York
• University College London
• University of Abertay Dundee
• University of Bedfordshire
• University of Chester
• University of Durham
• University of Gloucestershire
• University of Hertfordshire
• University of Northumbria at Newcastle
• University of Nottingham
• University of Plymouth
• University of South Wales
• University of the Arts, London
• University of the Highlands and Islands
• University of the West of England, Bristol
• University of Ulster
• University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Master's Universities

• Bath Spa University
• Buckinghamshire New University
• Edge Hill University
• Falmouth University
• Glyndŵr University
• Liverpool Hope University
• Newman University
• Royal Agricultural University
• Southampton Solent University
• St Mary's University, Twickenham
• The University of Bolton
• The University of Chichester
• The University of the West of Scotland
• The University of West London
• The University of Winchester
• University College Birmingham
• University of Cumbria
• University of Derby
• University of Suffolk
• University of Worcester
• York St John University

Baccalaureate Universities

• Bishop Grosseteste University
• Leeds Trinity University
• SRUC
• St Mary's University College
• University of St Mark and St John

Specialist Focus Institutions

• Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
• Courtauld Institute of Art
• Glasgow School of Art
• Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• Harper Adams University
• Heythrop College
• Leeds College of Art
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
• London Business School
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Norwich University of the Arts
• Plymouth College of Art
• Ravensbourne
• Rose Bruford College
• Royal Academy of Music
• Royal College of Art
• Royal College of Music
• Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
• Royal Northern College of Music
• Stranmillis University College
• The Arts University Bournemouth
• The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
• The National Film and Television School
• The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
• The Royal Veterinary College
• The University of Wales (central functions)
• Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
• University for the Creative Arts
• University of London (Institutes and activities)
• Writtle University College