The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences has achieved a new Carnegie Classification for its research enterprise and medical school program from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“The Carnegie Classification for our research and medical school is a testament to the expertise of our faculty members and the dedication of our students, who will be the physicians-researchers of tomorrow,” said Gary Raskob, Ph.D., senior vice president and provost of OU Health Sciences.

The Carnegie Classification is the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education. In 1970, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education began developing a classification of colleges and universities to support its research and policy analysis program. The framework was first published in 1973 and is updated every three years to reflect changes among colleges and universities.

The Carnegie Classification for medical schools and centers is a new category. It includes 68 institutions, representing 2% of U.S. colleges and universities in the Institutional Classification, which organizes institutions by multiple characteristics to create groups of similar institution types.

The OU College of Medicine is the largest of seven health professional colleges on the OU Health Sciences campus and the only Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program in Oklahoma. For 2024-2025, the College of Medicine has 682 students enrolled in its medical program. For the current first-year class of medical students, representing the Class of 2028, the program received 2,142 total applications and admitted 188 students.

The research program at OU Health Sciences achieved a Carnegie Classification for “High Research Spending and Doctorate Production,” with total spending of $131,160,000. This year, OU Health Sciences also earned its highest ranking ever in National Institutes of Health funding, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Funding from the NIH is considered the key benchmark for health sciences research productivity and reputation. NIH funding increased to $75.2 million in the previous federal fiscal year, improving the campus’s ranking to 102 out of 2,838 institutions that receive NIH funding.

The University of Oklahoma holds an R1 designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which is the highest level of research activity according to the Carnegie Classification.