ECU Gains $1.5 Million After Its Upgrade in Classication

East Carolina University received $1.5 million of the state budget to fund the university's doctoral programs.

The money rewards ECU's growing research activities and its recent upgrade in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning.

The Carnegie Classification System is a set of guidelines the UNC system has used as a measuring stick for system campuses. The system is also used as a basis for allocating funds to the different campuses.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching developed the classification system.

While Carnegie raised ECU's classification, the Board of Governors independently reclassified UNC-Charlotte. Both universities are now considered doctoral research-intensive institutions by the BOG.

Joni Worthington, UNC-system associate vice president of communications, said the reclassifications are a reflection of the schools' productivity.

"The breadth of the fields from which students are now graduating and growth in research at the institutions are factors in the new classifications," Worthington said.

Jacki Clavert, a Carnegie Classification representative, said reclassifications were the result of a new nomenclature within the system.

"Reclassifications would not indicate any sort of curriculum change," Clavert said.

But Gretchen Bataille, UNC-system senior vice president of academic affairs, said the BOG is re-examining the emphasis it places on the Carnegie system. "We've changed the way we fund institutions," she said, "Perhaps we were double dipping."

Only UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University are ranked research-extensive institutions. UNC-Charlotte and ECU join UNC-Greensboro as research-intensive institutions.

The schools' highest rankings within the Carnegie system and high productivity as compared to other UNC-system schools has provided the universities access to more funding.

Bataille said the BOG intends for the new classifications and a new funding matrix to even the playing field between UNC-system schools. She said by extending funding and administrative support to universities, others will follow in ECU's footsteps in improving their ranking.

Bataille also said the BOG will handle concerns about the demand for certain degrees.

But she said there are questions of whether funding and support should be extended to programs for which there is little demand in the workplace.

"There is a certain ethical concern," Bataille said. "Is it ethical to provide students with resources and a degree (but) no jobs?"

All 16 UNC campuses rank as general baccalaureate colleges or have higher distinctions, except the N.C. School of the Arts, which is considered a specialized art institution.

Bataille said the board will continue to examine concerns with rankings and university funding.

"It's an on-going project."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.