 |
 |
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
 |
|||
Undergraduate survey to measure satisfaction, strengthen quality of life
By Brian Fitzgerald
|
|
|
Discussing BU’s student satisfaction survey are (left to right) Laurie Pohl, associate vice president for enrollment and student affairs, Kathy Dawley, president of the consulting firm Maguire Associates, Alyssa Graham (CAS’08), and Cristina Carbunaru (CAS’08). Photo by Vernon Doucette |
|
Attention, students: BU is seeking your opinion . . . on BU. The University is inviting undergraduates to participate in an online student satisfaction survey beginning Monday, November 8.
The survey will be a broad-based questionnaire to gather student opinions on life both in the classroom and beyond. Undergraduates will receive an e-mail containing a link to a questionnaire surveying their experience at the University. There will be fewer than 100 statements, each using a scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
“The survey will help us identify strengths and weaknesses of BU’s programs and services and give us guidance in redirecting resources,” says Anne Shea, vice president for enrollment and student affairs. “It’s a tool to help us make decisions on how we can improve services.”
The survey is part of a project called the Quality of the Student Experience (QSE) at Boston University, which seeks to identify the factors that define student expectations — and are important in their satisfaction with campus life.
Shaped in part by information from student focus groups as well as a survey of faculty the University conducted last year, the undergraduate survey will also include a comment section. “Anecdotal comments are especially interesting and useful for us,” says Shea.
At present, the QSE steering committee is also forming “design groups” to address ways of strengthening the student experience.
The survey is being conducted by Maguire Associates, a Bedford, Mass., research-based consulting firm that serves colleges and universities. The firm has worked with the University for more than a decade on studies that have influenced admissions strategies, the planning for the residences at 10 Buick St., and Dining Services.
As the University continues to attract the most talented students from around the world — 80 percent of this year’s freshmen graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school class — it also seeks to enhance academic programs, support services, and the campus environment. “We’re getting terrific students,” says steering committee chair Laurie Pohl, associate vice president for enrollment and student affairs. “They have certain expectations when they come to BU, and we want to know how well we’re meeting those expectations.”
Pohl says that student retention is a pressing issue at colleges and universities across the country. Although first-year retention and graduation rates for undergraduates here are above national averages for private, four-year, doctoral universities, she says, BU still aspires to have more of its students stay and graduate. Determining exactly what student needs are unfulfilled is the first step in helping them meet their goals. “When students chose to come here, they made an important investment in BU, and we made an important investment in them,” she says. “It’s our intention that they finish their undergraduate education here.”
The survey will take about 20 minutes to fill out, and students can save it and return to it later at their leisure. “The survey is a confidential forum for students to share their concerns,” says Pohl. “We hope they’ll take an interest in it, because the University intends to take action based on the results. The survey is a formal way to engage students in making a positive change at BU.”
One of the goals of the survey, as well as of the design groups, is to help develop guidelines and clarify roles for academic support services, and identify best practices within BU.
Kathy Dawley, president of Maguire Associates, says that incentives to complete the survey include convenience points, a semester’s books, and T passes. “We’ve set a target of somewhere between a 25 and 30 percent participation rate,” she says. Her firm conducted a similar survey at Brown University three years ago and had a 40 percent response rate. “We’d love to go even higher,” she says. “We want to get as many opinions as possible from a wide range of students — right across the spectrum. A high participation level is extremely important because we want to make sure that the responses aren’t disproportionately from people who are mostly satisfied or from people who are generally dissatisfied.”
Dawley says that for more than 10 years her firm has helped BU define students’ priorities as they select a university. “We try to pinpoint what about Boston University seems to match the qualities they’re looking for. This survey is a chance to see, from the students’ point of view, how well the University is doing helping them reach their goals.”
The results of the survey, combined with the findings of the QSE design groups, will be presented in a final report in June 2005.
The survey is designed to provide a benchmark to measure student satisfaction. Shea says that another survey should be done, most likely within 18 months, to determine if the issues raised have been sufficiently addressed, and to see how much of a positive impact the January opening of the Agganis Arena — along with the opening of the Fitness and Recreation Center in the spring — is having on the undergraduate experience at BU.
“It’s imperative that the University keep its finger on the pulse of students’ opinion of what is making college a great experience for them,” says Shea, “and what BU can do to make it better.”
5
November 2004
Boston University
Office of University Relations