Research university

G.P.Burdell
Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:51:51 +0000

In a research university, professors are required to teach and research. About 1/3 of their time is teaching and 1/2 is research (the rest is administration and service). At a teaching university, the professors are paid just to teach, so almost all of their time is dedicated to teaching (but they teach more classes - usually three times as many).

Now, you might think “why would anyone want to study at a research university?” Several reasons. First, research universities are typically ranked much higher than non-research universities. Second, since companies are the ones that usually need (and pay for) research, they usually have stronger relationships (and thus recruit more) at research universities. Third, research universities pay professors much more than teaching schools, so the higher quality PhD students tend to go to research universities after graduation. Fourth, research professors have to stay on the cutting edge of the field, whereas a teaching professor doesn’t. As a result, at a teaching school, you might be receiving old information rather than more modern information. And last, but not least, at research universities, there’s opportunity for undergraduate research. If you intend to pursue a graduate degree, having research experience is very important.

You can see a school’s classification here:

Carnegie Foundation Classifications;

You can see a list of classifications here:

Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education - Wikipedia;