School classification is the premise of ranking. American universities are numerous and varied. All schools must be classified before ranking. Shao Qiliang, a senior American consultant, said that the classification is based on Carnegie classification and is divided into four levels and eight categories, whether public or private:
The first level: a research university that awards doctoral degrees. Such universities offer a wide range of bachelor's degree courses, including master's and doctoral programs. Any university that can provide more than 50 doctoral degrees in at least 15 academic fields every year is called "the first type of research university that awards doctoral degrees"; Any university that can provide more than 20 doctoral degrees in at least three academic fields every year is called "the second type of research university that awards doctoral degrees".
The second level: universities that award master's degrees. Such universities or colleges offer a wide range of bachelor's degree courses and offer master's courses. Universities that can provide at least 40 master's degrees in at least 3 disciplines every year are called "first-class universities that award master's degrees"; Universities offering more than 20 master's degrees are called "second-class universities granting master's degrees".
The third level: four-year junior college. One is a college of arts and sciences that awards bachelor's degrees. This kind of college basically only has a bachelor's degree, and more than 50% of the bachelor's degree in literature is awarded every year. The other is a comprehensive college. Different from the above-mentioned colleges, they award less than 50% of bachelor's degrees in arts and sciences every year, while others are bachelor's degrees in engineering, business and agriculture. There is also a mixed college, which only grants 10% bachelor's degrees every year, and the rest are junior college degrees.
The fourth level: two-year junior college. Except for a few such colleges that only award junior college degrees, even colleges that award bachelor's degrees have an annual award rate lower than 10% of the total degree. Community colleges, junior colleges and technical schools all belong to this level.
In addition, there are specialized colleges with a single discipline, including theological seminary, medical college, business college, engineering and technical college, art college, law school and military college. They award doctorates, master's degrees and bachelor's degrees in a certain subject and are not affiliated with any university.