Research university

Wilhelm von Humboldt, responsible for the Humboldtian model of higher education
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1876, is considered the first research university in the United States[1] and as of fiscal year 2020 had been the national leader in annual research and development spending for over four decades.[2]
Nuclear research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a research university, in Madison, Wisconsin

A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission.[3][4][5][6] They are "the key sites of knowledge production", along with "intergenerational knowledge transfer and the certification of new knowledge" through the awarding of doctoral degrees, and continue to be "the very center of scientific productivity".[7] They can be public or private, and often have well-known brand names.[8]

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.[9] Globally, research universities are overwhelmingly public institutions, while some countries like the United States and Japan also have well-known private research institutions.[3]

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, whereas research university faculty members, in contrast, are under more pressure to publish or perish.[10]

  1. ^ Geiger, Roger L. (1986). To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities, 1900–1940 (2004 ed.). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 9781412840088. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  2. ^ June, Audrey Williams (11 January 2022). "Where Research Spending Keeps Going Up". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "The role of research universities in developing countries". University World News. 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  4. ^ Altbach, Philip G. (2011). "The Past, Present, and Future of the Research University". In Altbach, Philip G.; Salmi, Jamil (eds.). The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World-Class Research Universities. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. pp. 11–32. ISBN 978-0-8213-8806-8. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  5. ^ Steven Sample (2 December 2002). "The Research University of the 21st Century: What Will it Look Like?". University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  6. ^ John Taylor (21 June 2006). "Managing the Unmanageable: The Management of Research in Research-Intensive Universities". Higher Education Management and Policy. 18 (2). OECD: 3–4. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  7. ^ Powell, Justin J. W.; Fernandez, Frank; Crist, John T.; Dusdal, Jennifer; Zhang, Liang; Baker, David P. (2017). "Introduction: The Worldwide Triumph of the Research University and Globalizing Science". In Powell, Justin J. W.; Fernandez, Frank; Baker, David P. (eds.). The Century of Science: The Global Triumph of the Research University. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. pp. 1–36. ISBN 9781787144699. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2022. (At p. 8.)
  8. ^ O'Shaughnessy, Lynn (2012). The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education. pp. 132–136. ISBN 9780132944694. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  9. ^ Andreatta, Britt (2011). Navigating the Research University: A Guide for First-Year Students (3rd ed.). Boston: Wadsworth. p. 136. ISBN 9780495913788. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  10. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. 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.