Recent Change in UH Minority Institution Status

The University of Houston is no longer on the United States Department of Education’s list of Accredited Postsecondary Minority Institutions due to the list’s exclusion of Asians as a minority. The Department of Education’s list of minority institutions is based on the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 definition of “minority” and “minority institution” under the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP)*. For purposes of this program, Asians are not considered a minority because studies show that they are not underrepresented in science and engineering. For further explanation of the list’s criteria, click on: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-minorityinst-list.html.

Although this is the only definition of "minority institution" in the HEA, and is used as a reference for several federal programs, there are other programs and sponsors which include Asians within its minority criteria, and therefore, University of Houston would be eligible as a minority institution.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the Department of Education provides the Accredited Postsecondary Minority Institutions list as a public service and does not determine program eligibility. If an institution does not appear on the list, it is the institution’s responsibility to obtain or confirm eligibility. Thus, dependent upon the sponsor’s definition of minority, UH’s eligibility as a minority institution must be determined on a case by case basis. Please contact your Research Administrator with questions regarding UH’s eligibility under a particular program.

The University of Houston’s statistical data for Student Distribution by Ethnicity is posted at http://www.uh.edu/news/uh_glance/index.php?page=statistics.

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*The HEA’s definitions of “minority” and “minority institutions” under the MSEIP are in Section 365(2) and (3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 1067k(2) and (3), respectively. These definitions can be found on-line at the website of the Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), at (HEA Definition).