Research university

A research university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission.[1][2][3][4] They can be public or private, and often have well-known brand names.[5] Undergraduate courses at many research universities are often academic rather than vocational and may not prepare students for particular careers, but many employers value degrees from research universities because they teach fundamental life skills such as critical thinking.[6] Globally, research universities are predominantly public universities, with notable exceptions being the United States and Japan.[1]

The University of Pennsylvania, an American research university

Institutions of higher education that are not research universities (or do not aspire to that designation, such as liberal arts colleges) instead place more emphasis on student instruction or other aspects of tertiary education, and their faculty members are under less pressure to publish or perish.[7]

History

The concept of the modern research university first arose in early 19th-century Germany, where Wilhelm von Humboldt championed his vision of Einheit von Lehre und Forschung (the unity of teaching and research), as a means of producing an education that focused on the main areas of knowledge (the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities) rather than on the previous goals of the university education, which was to develop an understanding of truth, beauty, and goodness.[8][9]

Roger L. Geiger, a historian specializing in the history of higher education in the United States, has argued that "the model for the American research university was established by five colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution (Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Columbia); five state universities (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and California); and five private institutions conceived from their inception as research universities (MIT, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Chicago)."[10] In turn, research universities were essential to the establishment of American hegemony by the end of the 20th century. In particular, Columbia and Harvard were instrumental in the development of the American film industry (Hollywood),[11] MIT and Stanford were leaders in building the American military–industrial complex,[12] and Berkeley and Stanford played a central role in the development of Silicon Valley.[13]

Since the 1960s, American research universities—especially the leading American public research university system, the University of California—have served as models for research universities around the world.[14][15] Today, the most prestigious research universities in North America belong to—or aspire to belong to—the Association of American Universities, a selective group of 65 major research universities in the United States and Canada.[16]

Characteristics

John Taylor defines the key characteristics of successful research universities as:[4]

  • "Presence of pure and applied research"
  • "Delivery of research-led teaching"
  • "Breadth of academic disciplines"
  • "High proportion of postgraduate research programmes"
  • "High levels of external income"
  • "An international perspective"

Philip Altbach defines a different, although similar, set of key characteristics for what research universities need to become successful:[17]

  • At the top of the academic hierarchy in a differentiated higher education system and receiving appropriate support
  • Overwhelmingly public institutions
  • Little competition from non-university research institutions, unless these have strong connections to the universities
  • More funding than other universities to attract the best staff and students and support research infrastructure
  • Adequate and sustained budgets
  • Potential for income generation from student fees and intellectual property
  • Suitable facilities
  • Autonomy
  • Academic freedom

A 2012 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report defined research universities, in the American context, as having values of intellectual freedom, initiative and creativity, excellence, and openness, with such additional characteristics as:[18]

  • Being large and comprehensive – Clark Kerr's "multiversity"
  • Emphasizing the undergraduate residential experience (flagged specifically as distinguishing American research universities from those in continental Europe)
  • Integrating graduate education with research
  • Having faculty engaged in research and scholarship
  • Conducting research at high levels
  • Having enlightened and bold leadership

Global university rankings use metrics that primarily measure research to rank universities.[19][20] Some also have criteria for inclusion based on the concept of a research university such as teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and conducting work in multiple faculties (QS World University Rankings),[21] or teaching undergraduates, having a research output of more than 1000 research papers over 5 years, and no more than 80% of activity in a single subject area (Times Higher Education World University Rankings).[22]

Worldwide distribution

The QS World University Ranking for 2021 included 1002 research universities. The region with the highest number was Europe, with 39.8%, followed by Asia Pacific with 26.7%, the US and Canada with 15.6%, Latin America with 10.8% and the Middle East and Africa with 7%. All regions except the Middle East and Africa were represented in the top 100. The largest number of new entrants to the rankings were from East Asia and Eastern Europe, followed by Southern Europe.[23] By individual country, the US has the most institutions with 151, followed by the UK with 84, China with 51, and Germany with 45. The top 200 shows a similar pattern with the US having 45 universities, the UK 26 and Germany 12.[24] By comparison, the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2015) identifies 115 US universities as "Doctoral Universities: Highest Research Activity" and a further 107 as "Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity", while Altbach estimated that there were around 220 research universities in the US in 2013.[1][25]

The Academic Ranking of World Universities shows a similar distribution, with 185 of their 500 ranked institutions in 2020 coming from Europe, 161 from the Americas, 149 from Asia/Oceania and 5 from Africa. Again, all regions except Africa are represented in the top 100, although the Americas are represented solely by universities from the US and Canada. The US again has the most universities from a single country, 206, followed by China with 168, the UK with 65 and Germany with 49. The top 200 shows the similar pattern: the US with 65 followed by China with 24, the UK with 20 and Germany with 10.[26] Times Higher Education only gives a breakdown by country and only for its top 200; this again has the US top, with 62, followed by the UK with 31, Germany with 20 and the Netherlands with 13. The top 200 features one university from Africa (the University of Cape Town), but none from Latin America.[27] The U.S. News and World Report Best Global Universities Ranking 2021 gives numbers by country for the 1500 universities ranked from 86 countries: the US is again top, with 255, followed by China with 176 and the UK with 87.[28] The 2020 CWTS Leiden Ranking includes 1,176 universities in the rankings from 65 countries: China tops the list for the first time, with 204, followed by the US with 198, the UK with 58 and Germany with 54.[29]

See also

References
  1. "The role of research universities in developing countries". University World News. 11 August 2013.
  2. Philip G. Altbach, Jamil Salmi, ed. (2011). The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World-Class Research Universities. World Bank. p. 135.
  3. Steven Sample (2 December 2002). "The Research University of the 21st Century: What Will it Look Like?". University of Southern California. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. John Taylor (21 June 2006). "Managing the Unmanageable: The Management of Research in Research-Intensive Universities". Higher Education Management and Policy. OECD. 18 (2): 3–4.
  5. O'Shaughnessy, Lynn (2012). The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. p. 125. ISBN 9780132944694. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. Andreatta, Britt (2011). Navigating the Research University: A Guide for First-Year Students (3rd ed.). Boston: Wadsworth. p. 136. ISBN 9780495913788.
  7. Irons, Jessica G.; Buskist, William (2009). "Chapter 9: Preparing for a Career at a Teaching Institution". In Davis, Stephen F.; Giordano, Peter J.; Licht, Carolyn A. (eds.). Your Career in Psychology: Putting Your Graduate Degree to Work. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 117–132. ISBN 9781405179423. Retrieved 6 August 2020. This source refers to research universities as R1, a common shorthand for the highest level of American research universities recognized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
  8. Bommel, Bas van (2015-12-14). "Between 'Bildung' and 'Wissenschaft': The 19th-Century German Ideal of Scientific Education German Education and Science". Europäische Geschichte Online. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  9. Menand, Louis; Reitter, Paul; Wellmon, Chad (2017). "General Introduction". The Rise of the Research University: A Sourcebook. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN 9780226414850. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  10. Crow, Michael M.; Dabars, William B. (2015). Designing the New American University. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9781421417233. Retrieved 28 May 2017. The quoted sentence is Crow and Dabars' paraphrasing of Geiger's analysis.
  11. Decherney, Peter (2017). Hollywood and the Culture Elite: How the Movies Became American. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 6–11. ISBN 9780231133760. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  12. Leslie, Stuart W. (1993). The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 9780231079587. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  13. Scott, W. Richard; Lara, Bernardo; Biag, Manuelito; Ris, Ethan; Liang, Judy (2017). "The Regional Economy of the San Francisco Bay Area". In Scott, W. Richard; Kirst, Michael W. (eds.). Higher Education and Silicon Valley: Connected But Conflicted. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 65. ISBN 9781421423081. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  14. Graham, Hugh Davis; Diamond, Nancy (1997). The Rise of American Research Universities: Elites and Challengers in the Postwar Era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780801880636. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  15. Marginson, Simon (2016). The Dream Is Over: The Crisis of Clark Kerr's California Idea of Higher Education. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 51–55. doi:10.1525/luminos.17. ISBN 978-0-520-29284-0.
  16. Rosenzweig, Robert M. (2001). The Political University: Policy, Politics, and Presidential Leadership in the American Research University. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 20. ISBN 9780801868191. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  17. Philip G. Altbach (2013). "Advancing the national and global knowledge economy". Studies in Higher Education. 38 (3): 316–330. doi:10.1080/03075079.2013.773222. hdl:2345/bc-ir:103804.
  18. "3". Research Universities and the Future of America. National Academies Press. 2012. p. 40.
  19. Philip G. Altbach (11 November 2010). "The State of the Rankings". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  20. Bahram Bekhradnia (15 December 2016). "International university rankings: For good or ill?" (PDF). Higher Education Policy Institute. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  21. "Inclusion in Rankings". QS Intelligence Unit. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  22. Phil Baty (16 January 2018). "This is why we publish the World University Rankings". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  23. "QS World University Rankings 2021 Supplement". Top Universities. Quacquarelli Symonds.
  24. "QS World University Rankings 2021". Top Universities. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  25. "Standard Listings". Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. University of Indiana. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  26. "Statistics". Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020. ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  27. "A Cast of Thousands". Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018 Digital Supplement. TES Global. 17 September 2017. p. 9. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  28. "U.S. News Unveils 2021 Best Global Universities Rankings". US News and World Report. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  29. "The CWTS Leiden Ranking 2020". leidenmadtrics.nl. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
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