Carnegie Foundation reaffirms Rice’s ‘very high research activity’ classification

Rice University’s status as a higher education institution with very high research activity and a comprehensive doctoral program was reaffirmed in the updated Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education released this month.

Of the 108 research universities classified as having “very high research activity,” only four are in Texas: Rice, Texas A&M, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, which moved up from the “high” category where it was classified in the prior report in 2005. All four are classified as having comprehensive doctoral programs. Rice is also a member of the Association of American Universities, an organization of the top 63 research institutions in the U.S. and Canada, and ranked among the top 20 schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

”Rice is the smallest university in both of those Carnegie classifications, yet we have proved that, pound for pound, our achievements far exceed our size,” President David Leebron said. Among those achievements are rankings as No. 1 for the most impactful patent portfolio among American research universities, No. 1 in materials science research and the most productive research university in Texas.

In Carnegie’s elective category for community engagement, Rice won classification as a school that has a substantial commitment to collaboration between the university and its home community.

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent education policy and research center. The classifications are issued every five years. For more information visit http://carnegiefoundation.org/newsroom/press-releases/updated-carnegie-classifications.