You like us, you really like us!
For the third year in a row, Saybrook University’s Student Satisfaction Survey has shown students are more content with their overall Saybrook experience.
More than 70 percent of enrolled students participated in the 2013 survey, which was developed and coordinated by the Saybrook Office of Institutional Research, and included 57 questions measuring student satisfaction rates with 21 key academic quality indicators and 17 key indicators for university-level services.
This was the third year the survey was given, which allows us to measure results longitudinally for the first time.
The good news is that in 2013, for the third year in a row, students showed very high levels of satisfaction with the overall quality of academic programs, the level of academic rigor required in the program, the overall quality of instruction in the degree, the adequacy of the courses in preparing students for their intended professions, and the quality of courses and curriculum in the program. In addition, our Business Office, Financial Aid Office, Library, Registrar and Admissions departments all achieved satisfaction scores of over 80 percent across the board.
How to pay for their education continued to be a major student concern, and 32 percent of those students who responded yes when asked if they had seriously considered withdrawing from Saybrook during the previous year cited inadequate financial resources and/or financial aid as their primary reason. Students also expressed concern with support received from faculty in some area and difficulty with balancing multiple demands on their time..
This year’s survey asked students to quantitatively measure their satisfaction with 21 different academic performance measures. Of the 21, 14 showed improvement over 2012’s results, 12 of those improving by two percent or more, while only three measures declined by two percent or more. According to the survey, students are most satisfied with the overall quality of the academic program, the level of academic rigor required in the program, the overall quality of instruction in the degree program, the quality of the courses and curriculum in the program and the adequacy of the program courses in preparing students for their intended professions. This last question is particularly important, since a total of 62 percent of the students cited either ‘advancing in my current career’ or ‘interest in changing careers’ as a primary motivator of their enrollment at Saybrook.
“We watch this survey keenly to see what areas to focus on in the next year, and to know where we need to find new approaches,” said Saybrook President Mark Schulman. “These results aren’t surprising, they’re very much in line with what students and faculty have told me, but the ability to have such a large portion of our student body answering these questions directly is invaluable. I want to thank every student who chose to get involved and help us make Saybrook better every year.”