At SXSW EDU 2026, Timothy Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, joined Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, to discuss a pivotal shift in how we understand institutional excellence in higher education.
For more than 50 years, the Carnegie Classifications has served as the nation’s gold standard for organizing postsecondary institutions. At SXSW EDU, Knowles and Mitchell reflected on that legacy while outlining a bold evolution for the future.
They described how the Carnegie Classifications are moving beyond traditional indicators like prestige, student selectivity, and degrees awarded. Instead, the new Student Access and Earnings Classification surfaces more urgent and meaningful reflections on how well are institutions setting their students up for success in the real world.
This reimagined approach evaluates institutions using two critical metrics:
- Access: Who institutions serve—and whether they expand opportunity for all students
- Earnings: What students achieve after completion—capturing the economic impact of their education
These measures offer a clearer, more equitable understanding of institutional impact that’s grounded in student outcomes rather than institutional reputation.
Knowles and Mitchell emphasized that this shift marks more than a methodological update, representing a fundamental redefinition of excellence in higher education that aligns institutional priorities with the success of the students they serve.
