How the Classification Was Developed: Text of the Category Definitions

DOCTORAL/RESEARCH
UNIVERSITIES-EXTENSIVE
These institutions offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs and are committed to graduate education through the doctorate. They award 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines.

DOCTORAL/RESEARCH
UNIVERSITIES-INTENSIVE
These institutions offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs and are committed to graduate education through the doctorate. They award at least 10 doctoral degrees per year across three or more disciplines, or at least 20 doctoral degrees per year over all.

MASTER'S (COMPREHENSIVE) COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES I
These institutions offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs and are committed to graduate education through the master's degree. They award 40 or more master's degrees annually across three or more disciplines.

MASTER'S (COMPREHENSIVE)
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES II
These institutions offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs and are committed to graduate education through the master's degree. They award 20 or more master's degrees annually in one or more disciplines.

BACCALAUREATE COLLEGES-LIBERAL ARTS These institutions are primarily undergraduate colleges with major emphasis on baccalaureate degree programs. They award at least half of their baccalaureate degrees in the liberal arts.

BACCALAUREATE COLLEGES-GENERAL
These institutions are primarily undergraduate colleges with major emphasis on baccalaureate programs. They award fewer than half of their baccalaureate degrees in liberal-arts fields.

BACCALAUREATE/ASSOCIATE'S COLLEGES
These institutions are undergraduate colleges with significant baccalaureate programs; however, the majority of conferrals are at the sub-baccalaureate level (associate degrees and certificates).

These institutions offer associate degree and certificate programs but, with few exceptions, award no baccalaureate degrees.

These institutions offer degrees ranging from the bachelor's to the doctorate, and at least half of the degrees awarded are in a single field. The list includes only institutions that are listed as separate campuses in the Higher Education Directory. Specialized institutions include:

Theological seminaries and other specialized faith-related institutions: These institutions primarily offer religious instruction or train members of the clergy.

Medical schools and medical centers: These institutions award most of their professional degrees in medicine. In some instances, they include other health-professions programs, such as dentistry, pharmacy, or nursing.

Other separate health-profession schools: These institutions award most of their degrees in such fields as chiropractic, nursing, pharmacy, or podiatry.

Schools of engineering and technology: These institutions award most of their bachelor's or graduate degrees in technical fields of study.

Schools of business and management: These institutions award most of their bachelor's or graduate degrees in business or business-related programs.

Schools of art, music, and design: These institutions award most of their bachelor's or graduate degrees in art, music, design, architecture, or some combination of such fields.

Schools of law: These institutions award most of their degrees in law.

Teachers colleges: These institutions award most of their bachelor's or graduate degrees in education or education-related fields.

Other specialized institutions: Institutions in this category include graduate centers, maritime academies, military institutes, and institutions that do not fit any other classification category.

These colleges are, with few exceptions, tribally controlled and located on reservations. They are all members of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

UNIVERSE AND DATA SOURCE
The classification universe is defined as all institutions listed in the 2000 Higher Education Directory. All analyses are based on Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Completions data for 1995-96 through 1997-98, from the National Center for Education Statistics (N.C.E.S.). The Carnegie Classification thus inherits the degree and field definitions used in IPEDS.

For information on IPEDS, see http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds

DEFINITIONS OF ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES
The IPEDS Completions data report degree conferrals by field of study as defined in N.C.E.S.'s Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). The CIP organizes instructional programs into three levels of aggregation (the two-, four-, and six-digit series under the CIP coding scheme). For information on the CIP, see: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=91396

For the purpose of identifying distinct disciplines for master's degrees and doctorates, the intermediate aggregation of the CIP (four-digit series) was used. Specialized institutions were identified in most cases using the highest level of aggregation (two-digit series).

LIBERAL-ARTS FIELDS
The liberal arts were defined to comprise the following categories from the CIP: English language and literature/letters; foreign language and literatures; biological sciences/life sciences; mathematics; philosophy and religion; physical sciences; psychology; social sciences and history; visual and performing arts; area, ethnic, and cultural studies; liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities; and multi/interdisciplinary studies.