1. Consider a higher education institution you have attended or are currently associated with. How would you classify it?
2. What is their mission statement?
3. How does this mission statement address the needs of its students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community? If it doesn’t, what revisions would you recommend?
Refer the following
History, Classification, & System
Higher Education in the United States – Historical Development
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2044/Higher-Education-in-United-States.html
Carnegie Classification System – History and Updates, Classification Categories In (2000)
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1814/Carnegie-Classification-System.html
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2010)
http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/descriptions/basic.php
Higher Education in the United States – System
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2043/Higher-Education-in-United-States-SYSTEM.html
LEAS 833
Higher Education in America
Week 1
• America’s higher education growth and expansion began more than 300 years ago.
• The higher education system of the US is not so much a formal system as it is an
informal configuration of varied institutions.
• U.S. higher education system shaped by many different influences, including state
and local needs, demographics, religion, and changing social contexts.
• Institutions in the United States mirror the multifaceted complexities of the broader
society in which they are embedded and the diversity of the people they serve.
• American higher education is quite disorderly in structure and function.
▪ This disorder is characterized by a variety of individual institutional goals and
missions, types of degrees offered, finance and governance structures, and even
curricula, course contents, and instructional methodologies.
• Represents about 3 percent of the gross national product.
• Virtually every governor and legislature across the nation evokes colleges and
universities as critical to a state’s economic and cultural development.
• More than 4,600 accredited institutions that enroll over twenty-five million students
and confers in excess of two million degrees annually.
Higher Education in America
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Colonial Period (18th Century):
• Beginning in the seventeenth century, the colonists created institutions for
higher education for several reasons.
➢ New England settlers included many alumni of the royally chartered British
universities, Cambridge and Oxford, and therefore believed education was
essential.
➢ Religion provided an impetus for the creation of colonial colleges.
➢ Contributions to both political thought and action
• Between Harvard’s founding in 1636 and the start of the American Revolution,
the colonists chartered nine colleges and seminaries although only one in the
South.
• The Colonial period remained elite and exclusionary. Only white Christian males
were allowed to attend Higher Education. Women and African-Americans were
denied participation by statute and custom, but colleges did serve Native
Americans in a missionary capacity.
• Governance of colonial colleges became almost exclusively the jurisdiction of
local and state governments.
Higher Education In America – Historical Development
Source: Stateuniversity.com
19th Century Period:
• Between 1800 and 1850, the US experienced a “college building boom” in which more
than two hundred degree-granting institutions were created.
• Colleges depended on student tuition payments and local donors, there was also a
high closure rate.
• Classical languages and liberal studies for the bachelor of arts degree.
• Engineering and science acquired a presence on the campus.
• Professional education for law and medicine usually also took place in separate
institutions.
• A host of small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast and later in Ohio, Kentucky, and
Tennessee that served as an important incubator for a growing middle class.
• Most states reserved the right to set requirements for professional practice, and these
were for the most part meager.
• Nevertheless, few if any learned professions in the early nineteenth century required
academic degrees or certification.
Higher Education In America – Historical Development
Source: Stateuniversity.com
19th Century Period, con’t:
• A growing national demand for trained teachers due to the “common-school
movement” of the 1830s provided women with an education for employment as
teachers in the ever-expanding nation.
• The Morrill Act (Land Grant Act) of 1862 set in motion an elaborate program whereby
states received profits from the sale of an allotted portion of federal lands if used to
establish programs of agricultural, mechanical, and military sciences, along with
liberal arts.
• The Hatch Act and the “Second Morrill Act” of 1890 continued the expansion of
federal involvement in education by bringing federal funding and projects to the new
land-grant campuses.
• The university emphasized graduate programs, including the study for and conferral of
the doctor of philosophy degree or Ph.D.
• In 1900 when the presidents of fourteen institutions created the Association of
American Universities.
Higher Education In America – Historical Development
Source: Stateuniversity.com
20th Century Period:
• During WWI, faculty research leading to direct inventions and innovations began in
earnest.
• College enrollments and public enthusiasm surged after World War I.
• Great Depression illustrated an interesting phenomenon: college enrollments increased
during times of national financial hardship.
• While institutions reduced budgets, many worked to sustain American colleges in lean
years.
• An extended boom for the founding of women’s colleges.
• Students shaped the undergraduate world according to their own preferences.
▪ Extracurricular experiences of intercollegiate sports, campus newspapers, collegiate
drama, literary societies, alumni groups, sororities and fraternities
• Some universities also demonstrated resourcefulness in seeking out business and
industrial projects for their faculty in such fields as engineering and physics.
Higher Education In America – Historical Development
Source: Stateuniversity.com
20th Century Period, con’t:
• After WWII, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944), popularly
known as the “G.I. Bill.”
▪ This generous and flexible financial aid program enabled an unprecedented
number of veterans to attend colleges, universities, and an array of
“postsecondary” institutions.
▪ This legislation gave energy to civil rights cases linked with educational access.
• An increase in federal funding and student financial aid.
• A high enrollment growth by the “Baby Boomers”.
• Among the most conspicuous transformations was the emergence of a network of
public community colleges.
▪ Transfer function.
▪ Advanced, terminal degree instruction and certification in a range of professional
and occupational fields.
▪ Readily accessible, low-priced continuing education for adults.
• A decline in state and local appropriations in public institutions
Higher Education In America – Historical Development
America’s Higher
Education
Classification
System
• Is a taxonomy of U.S. colleges and universities. In 2018, the 7 categories are based on
data about the institutions from the US Department of Education Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) , based on as types of degrees conferred,
specialized academic programs, enrollment, size, and setting.
• The classification system shows the diversity of American colleges and universities.
• The purpose of the Carnegie Classification system is to assist in understanding higher
education institutions; it is not intended to rank the quality of the institutions.
• The Carnegie Classification system was developed in 1970 by the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching, an independent, nonprofit center for educational
research and policy studies.
• Revisions to the classifications were published in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010,
2015, and 2018.
• The Carnegie Classification system includes all U.S. colleges and universities that grant
degrees and are accredited by the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Source: Stateuniversity.com
The Carnegie Classification System
of Institutions of Higher Education
The 2018 Carnegie Classification System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Associate’s Colleges. Institutions at which the highest level degree awarded is
an associate’s degree. The institutions are sorted into nine categories based on
the intersection of two factors: disciplinary focus (transfer, career & technical or
mixed) and dominant student type (traditional, nontraditional or mixed).
Excludes Special Focus Institutions and Tribal Colleges.
• High Transfer-High Traditional
• High Transfer-Mixed Traditional/Nontraditional
• High Transfer-High Nontraditional
• Mixed Transfer/Career & Technical-High Traditional
• Mixed Transfer/Career & Technical-Mixed Traditional/Nontraditional
• Mixed Transfer/Career & Technical-High Nontraditional
• High Career & Technical-High Traditional
• High Career & Technical-Mixed Traditional/Nontraditional
• High Career & Technical-High Nontraditional
The 2018 Carnegie Classification System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Doctorate-granting Universities. Includes institutions that awarded at least 20
research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year and also
institutions with below 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees that award at
least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least 2 programs such as the
JD, MD, PharmD, DPT, etc..
The first two categories include only institutions that awarded at least 20
research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in total
research expenditures.
• R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity
• R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity
• D/PU: Doctoral Universities – Doctoral/Professional Universities
The 2018 Carnegie Classification System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Master’s Colleges and Universities. Generally includes institutions that
awarded at least 50 master’s degrees and fewer than 20 doctoral degrees
during the update year.
• M1: Master’s Colleges and Universities – Larger programs
• M2: Master’s Colleges and Universities – Medium programs
• M3: Master’s Colleges and Universities – Smaller programs
Tribal Colleges. Colleges and universities that are members of the American
Indian Higher Education Consortium.
• Tribal: Tribal Colleges
The 2018 Carnegie Classification System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Baccalaureate Colleges. Includes institutions where baccalaureate or higher
degrees represent at least 50 percent of all degrees but where fewer than 50
master’s degrees or 20 doctoral degrees were awarded during the update year.
(Some institutions above the master’s degree threshold are also included; see
Methodology.) Excludes Special Focus Institutions and Tribal Colleges.
• Arts & Sciences Focus
• Diverse Fields
Baccalaureate/Associate’s Colleges. Includes four-year colleges (by virtue of
having at least one baccalaureate degree program) that conferred more than 50
percent of degrees at the associate’s level . Excludes Special Focus Institutions,
Tribal Colleges, and institutions that have sufficient master’s or doctoral degrees
to fall into those categories.
• Mixed Baccalaureate/Associate’s Colleges
• Associate’s Dominant
The 2018 Carnegie Classification System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Special Focus Institutions. Institutions where a high concentration of degrees is
in a single field or set of related fields. Excludes Tribal Colleges.
Two-Year
• Health Professions
• Technical Professions
• Arts & Design
• Other Fields
Four-Year
• Faith-Related Institutions
• Medical Schools & Centers
• Other Health Professions Schools
• Engineering Schools
• Other Technology-Related Schools
• Business & Management Schools
• Arts, Music & Design Schools
• Law Schools
• Other Special Focus Institutions
U.S. Postsecondary Institutions by Degree Level and Program
N % N %
Doctoral Universities 418 10% 7,229,265 36%
Master’s Colleges and Universities 685 16% 3,955,922 20%
Baccalaureate Colleges 575 13% 898,818 4%
Baccalaureate/Associate’s Colleges 262 6% 1,270,740 6%
Associate’s Colleges 1,000 23% 5,808,423 29%
Special Focus: Two-Year 432 10% 183,775 1%
Special Focus: Four-Year 918 21% 700,442 3%
Tribal Colleges 34 1% 16,424 0.1%
Grand Total 4,324 20,063,809
Institutions Fall 2017 Enrollment
America’s Higher
Education System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
• The higher education system of the United States is an informal configuration
of varied institutions.
• Unlike most other countries, where higher education systems have largely
developed outward from a central, government-supported university.
• The evolution has been shaped by many different influences, including state
and local needs, demographics, religion, and changing social contexts.
• Mirror the multifaceted complexities of the broader society in which they are
embedded and the diversity of the people they serve.
• Is quite disorderly in structure and function in contrast to many national
postsecondary systems and even in sharp contrast to the rationally organized
American compulsory primary and secondary education system.
• This disorder is characterized by a variety of individual institutional goals and
missions, types of degrees offered, finance and governance structures, and
even curricula, course contents, and instructional methodologies.
America’s Higher Education System
Source: Stateuniversity.com
• Systemic diversity refers to differences in types of institutions with regard to
their size and scope of mission.
• Carnegie Classification can hide the true complexity of the higher education
system of the United States.
o A “research university” may also have its roots in land-grant legislation, or may be
single-sex or religiously affiliated.
o The institution’s historical roots–whether it began as a land-grant college, historically
Black college or university, Hispanic-serving college, tribal college, or religiously
affiliated institution.
o There are less apparent dimensions of institutional difference, such as ratios between
part-time and full-time students or residential versus commuter students.
o Athletic division membership is an important facet of institutional identity, as is
location (region, urban, rural, suburban).
o It is important to pay attention to other aspects of institutional diversity in order to
truly understand the nature of the diverse system of American higher education.
Higher Education – Systemic Diversity
Source: Stateuniversity.com
• Structural diversity focuses on the ways in which institutions are organized
and controlled.
• Structural diversity is most often defined in terms of type of institutional
control–public or private.
• Publicly controlled institutions are funded primarily by the government
(usually by state governments) and are typically part of a larger state
system.
• Private institutions are primarily funded by nongovernment sources and
tend to be independent with their own private governing boards.
• There are many more private institutions in the United States than there
are public colleges and universities, although public higher education has
grown significantly since the 1960s.
Higher Education – Structural Diversity
Source: Stateuniversity.com
Reputational Diversity
• It has been noted that higher education institutions in the United States are
extremely stratified and have varying reputations.
• Institutions are attempting to always improve on their reputation.
• Reputation appears to depend on a complex set of factors, including undergraduate
selectivity and peer evaluations of graduate programs.
Constituent Diversity
• Vary by the core constituencies they serve, particularly with regard to the particular
types of students served.
• Some of the most prominent institutions that serve particular types of students
that have been traditionally underserved by the majority of postsecondary
institutions.
• These institutions include historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs),
Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), tribal colleges, and women’s institutions.
Higher Education –
Constituent Diversity & Reputational Diversity
Source: Stateuniversity.com
• All states have developed some type of public postsecondary educational system
structure.
• All states assign responsibility for operating public colleges and universities to three
types of governing boards:
▪ Consolidated boards are responsible for all public postsecondary institutions in a
particular state, although in some states this may apply only to the four-year
institutions.
▪ Segmental systems have different governing boards for different types of
campuses; in some states this may mean that public research universities are
governed by one board, comprehensive state colleges by another board, and
community colleges by yet another board.
▪ Single-institution boards grant governance autonomy to each public campus by
allowing each to have its own board.
• Public boards vary in the degree to which they have formal governance authority
and the extent to which they merely coordinate activities across the state’s public
postsecondary educational sector without any substantive decision-making powers.
No National Structure of Higher Education
Source: Stateuniversity.com
• Decentralized nature of American higher education has generated benefits on three
levels: institutional, societal, and systemic.
▪ At the institutional level, center on serving students’ needs. Institutional diversity
would include variety of student body, institutional size, programs offered, and
academic standards.
▪ Societal arguments for diversity center on issues of social mobility and political
interests.
▪ Institutions of higher education have also long served various political, economic,
and social functions.
▪ Higher Education systems are able to sense and respond to environmental
pressures more quickly and effectively simply because they encompass such
extensive variety.
• The diverse system of postsecondary institutions in America reflects the diverse
composition and needs of the society it serves.
Advantages of the U.S. System of Higher Education
