UH is not really Tier One. This Tier One business has been the greatest trick Khator has pulled while at UH. The sole basis for this Tier One claim is the fact that UH is now classified by the Carnegie Foundation, for the first time, as a RU/VH university. RU/VH means "research university, very high." This speaks to the amount--the sheer quantity, not quality, mind you--of research conducted at the school. RU/VH is the highest level among over 300 universities in the U.S. Carnegie does not use any kind of label that mentions "Tier One." That was solely a Khator invention.
The real trick is that Tier One is a just a generic term, but Khator has made everyone at UH believe it is an official designation. In doing so, she is leveraging on various generic uses of "Tier One," such as US News & World Report's previous use of Tier One to mean the top-50 or Top-100 universities in country. Clearly UH is not in that league. And even if Carnegie used the phrase "Tier One," it would not speak to the academic excellence or admission standards of UH; it would speak to the research output.
But it's true: in terms of research output, UH is now, for the first time, among the top-300 schools in the country. Congratulations. The really strange thing is when the above point has been made to UH people, the overwhelming response is, "So what if it's not really true. People thinking UH is good is good for the city." By that measure, I think Rice ought to tout itself as a Super-Duper-Tier football school.
EDIT TO ADD:
This is from UH's own website:
Quote:Has the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized UH as a Tier One research university?
In its most recent classification of universities, issued in January 2011, the Carnegie Foundation categorized UH as a Research University with "very high research activity" (RU/VH) the highest classification given to research universities and the equivalent of Tier One status. UH was previously in the "high research activity" category.
If this were a deposition, the questioning lawyer would object to the answer as "nonresponsive." The answer notably does not directly answer the question.
Quote:Who determines if a university is Tier One?
Within the academic community, there are three organizations that are generally accepted as national arbiters of an institution’s rank as a Tier One institution. They are the Association of American Universities, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Center for Measuring University Performance, which issues Top American Research University (TARU) reports. Recognition by any of these three is taken as an indication of Tier One status.
Says who? It's pretty disingenuous to say that being one of the top 300 research-output universities in the country is essentially equivalent to being one of the 62 AAU universities in the country.
The Texas Legislature does use a "Tier One" designation for purposes of giving certain schools access to state funds. Notably, when the question (again on the UH website) is whether the State of Texas considers UH a "Tier One" school that can have access to the funds, the answer is illuminating:
Quote:UH's designation as a top-tier research university by the Carnegie Foundation should have no direct effect on its meeting the NRUF benchmarks and qualifying for the designated funds. UH remains classified as an Emerging Research University and, as such, remains eligible for financial support.