There are thousands of universities in the United States, all boasting of academic excellence. So how are higher education administrators and professors supposed to know where their institution sits in respect to all the others?
One such determinant is the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Baker has participated in this survey four times since its launch in 2000 and will administer the survey a fifth time this year to first-year and senior-year students.
“It’s not just yet another survey,” Judy Smrha, assistant dean for student engagement and success and Baker’s contact for NSSE, said. “It’s kind of a big deal. This is a national standard and we find the results quite useful, so we try to encourage our students to complete the survey.”
Rand Ziegler, vice president for institutional and faculty development, created an overview of the 2010 results that shows how Baker compared against other schools in five categories.
The five areas the survey covers are the level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, supportive campus environment and enriching educational experiences.
“Something to keep in mind is that this is not based on fact. This is based on student perception,” Ziegler said. “But students are ultimately the customers so we do need to cater to what they need.”
Baker scored significantly higher than peer schools in active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction and enriching education experience with both first-year and senior-year students.
In the category of level of academic challenge however, Baker’s first-year students scored significantly lower than similar universities.
A goal laid out by Baker’s administration for the upcoming academic year is to have scores exceeding those of Baker’s peers in four of the five categories.
“What we learned from the 2010 survey is we don’t challenge our first-year students as much as our peers have and that was important for us when we designed Quest,” Smrha said.
In addition to using the results of the survey to revamp programs and practices at Baker, Ziegler sees the data generated as a good recruiting tool.
“These results are great, because of course, Baker advertises that we are proficient in all these categories, but now we have data to back it up,” Ziegler said.
The first-year and senior students that are eligible to take the survey will be notified by an email sent by NSSE and asked to complete the survey.
“I highly encourage students to participate as it provides us with invaluable information to continue improving our services to the students,” Dean of Students Cassy Bailey said.
