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New college report seeks student input

In an attempt to help future students determine the best school to suit their needs, The College Student Report will arrive at more than 250 universities and colleges nationwide next semester.

The initial stages of the report, designed by the National Survey of Student Engagement, will begin in January, when participating students will answer questions concerning a wide variety of issues.

Unlike other college reports, like those administered by The Princeton Review and U.S. News and World Report, the NSSE developed The College Student Report in order to relay student opinions.

The University of Arizona did not take part in the NSSE pilot survey this semester, but may participate next spring.

"They (NSSE) are doing a pilot this fall," said Richard Kroc, director of UA Office of Curriculum and Enrollment Research. "They are going to expand the survey in the spring, and we hope to get involved with it. We are in discussion with the parties organizing the survey right now."

Kroc said the survey will provide an important gauge to compare student responses to issues revolving around higher education.

"We'd like to get data on our peers, and how their students think about issues," he said.

John Hayek, project manager of the NSSE, said the survey is a joint undertaking of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and Planning.

He said both the NSSE and its survey were a result of two years of deliberation between these two entities and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

"In 1998, The Pew Charitable Trusts convened a working group of national higher education leaders to discuss the role of media-generated college rankings and other measures of quality," he said.

"They concluded that a well-designed national survey of undergraduates could help colleges and other interested groups get a more accurate and meaningful picture of quality to communicate to the public. The result was the National Survey of Student Engagement."

The survey will include a variety of questions concerning how students spend their time in college, what they feel that they have learned in and out of class, and how effective the student-faculty relationship was at their school.

"We pull a random sample of students and send a survey directly to them," Hayek said. "For those students participating, there is also an online survey option."

Hayek said the survey, which is only administered to freshmen and seniors, will hit participating universities in late January and will be followed by two months of follow-up activity.

"The process can take a while," he said. "Still, our turnaround time has been very quick. Most institutions did not even become aware of our invitation to participate until October."

Hayek said the participating schools represent a variety of university and college types.

"There are 250 colleges and universities that will be participating," he said. "Of these schools, there's a wide gamut of types of institutions, from public universities, private and religious based colleges, and large, research-based schools."

Shannon Gallagher, a representative from The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the organization wanted to develop a survey that detailed actual student reactions.

"There were no college reports that surveyed what the students think about," she said. "We're the first to do this."

Hayek agreed that while the survey will turn up important results, it is not considered or designed to be a college ranking system.

"The institution will have new benchmarks in which to compare their figures with, but it will not be a ranking program," he said. "The results from the survey will all be aggregate general averages. Institutional specific information will not be released."

Hayek said The Pew Charitable Trusts, which is funding the project, has worked to help other non-profit organizations, especially in the field of education.

"It is a foundation based out of Philadelphia that awards grants to non-profit organizations who focus on education, environment, health, and public policy," he said. "Last year they distributed over $200 million to nearly 300 non-profit organizations."