This is the second half of Black Issues In Higher Education’s annual
“Top 100” rankings of postsecondary institutions that graduate the most
minority students. Part I ranked schools that grant baccalaureate
degrees (see July 9, 1998 edition). This edition ranks graduate and
professional schools.
For the seventh consecutive year, the publishers of Black Issues
have asked me to produce lists of the institutions that confer the
largest number of degrees to students of color in the United States.
These simple lists are presented with the objective of bringing
national attention to those institutions that contribute, in raw
numbers, to the educational attainment of members of ethnic and racial
minorities.
As the National Center for Education Statistics continues in its
effort to provide data in a more timely fashion, this year we faced the
mixed blessing of having a more abundant set of data to choose from
than in years past. Consistent with last year’s rankings, we are
releasing numbers from a preliminary file that is in the final stages
of completion: data reflecting degree production during the 1995-96
academic year. In addition, we are providing, where available, data
from an early release version of degrees conferred for 1996-97.
As in prior years, we restrict this analysis to degrees awarded by
accredited colleges and universities in the fifty United States and the
District of Columbia. The institutions are ranked according to the
total number of degrees awarded to minority students across all
disciplines and in specific disciplines. Excluded from this analysis
are colleges and universities in Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and
Other commonwealths and protectorates, as well as postsecondary
institutions within the fifty states and Washington, D.C., that are not
accredited at the college level by an agency recognized by the United
States Secretary of Education.
Source of Data
The data for this study come from the United States Department of
Education. They are collected through the Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System program completers survey conducted by the Office
of Educational Research and Improvement. The survey requests data on
the number of degrees and other formal awards conferred in academic,
vocational, and continuing professional education programs.
Institutions report their data according to the Classification of
Instructional Program (CIP) codes developed by me National Center for
Educational Statistics. CIP codes provide a common set of categories
allowing comparisons across all colleges and universities.
Students’ minority status is typically determined by a
self-reported response during their college career. Students are
offered a set of categories from which to choose. The number and labels
of these categories differ from one institution to another. However,
when reporting enrollment or degrees to the federal government,
institutions must “map” their categories to the standard federal
categories: nonresident alien; Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or
Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Hispanic; White,
non-Hispanic; and race/ ethnicity unknown. The “minority” categories-
Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or
Pacific Islander; and Hispanic include only U.S. citizens or permanent
residents.
