A Rose by Any Other Name: Explaining Why Colleges Become Universities. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.
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| Title: | A Rose by Any Other Name: Explaining Why Colleges Become Universities. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper. |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Morphew, Christopher C. |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 27 |
| Publication Date: | 2000 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research Speeches/Meeting Papers |
| Descriptors: | Doctoral Programs, Educational Change, Higher Education, Institutional Characteristics, Masters Programs, Selective Colleges, Universities |
| Geographic Terms: | U.S.; Kansas |
| Abstract: | This study explored the institutional characteristics associated with the conversion from college to university status. Since 1990, more than 120 public and private four-year colleges have changed their names and become universities. Of these, 105 were considered for this study. The first hypothesis, that less selective institutions were more likely to change, was studied through information about selectivity in a well-known college guidebook. A second hypothesis, that relatively resource poor institutions would be more likely to change, was studied through data from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). The final hypothesis, that institutions changed their names to acknowledge the reality that they were already more graduate-intensive than their peer schools, was tested by comparing numbers of graduate students and graduate credit hours through IPEDS data. Study findings suggest that less selective schools were more likely to change. There was also strong evidence that institutional resources played the hypothesized negative role in predicting whether or not an institution will change status. There was also evidence, although not as strong as for the other hypotheses, that a focus on graduate education was positively correlated with the change to university status. (Contains 4 tables and 54 references.) (SLD) |
| Notes: | Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) (25th, Sacramento, CA, November 16-19, 2000). Version of a paper presented at the Higher Education Finance Roundtable (Houston, TX, May 21-24, 2000). |
| Journal Code: | RIEJUL2001 |
| Entry Date: | 2001 |
| Accession Number: | ED449756 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This study explored the institutional characteristics associated with the conversion from college to university status. Since 1990, more than 120 public and private four-year colleges have changed their names and become universities. Of these, 105 were considered for this study. The first hypothesis, that less selective institutions were more likely to change, was studied through information about selectivity in a well-known college guidebook. A second hypothesis, that relatively resource poor institutions would be more likely to change, was studied through data from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). The final hypothesis, that institutions changed their names to acknowledge the reality that they were already more graduate-intensive than their peer schools, was tested by comparing numbers of graduate students and graduate credit hours through IPEDS data. Study findings suggest that less selective schools were more likely to change. There was also strong evidence that institutional resources played the hypothesized negative role in predicting whether or not an institution will change status. There was also evidence, although not as strong as for the other hypotheses, that a focus on graduate education was positively correlated with the change to university status. (Contains 4 tables and 54 references.) (SLD) |
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