California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) students are more likely than students at similar institutions to say that their college experience has been good or excellent and that they would choose the same university again, according to a recent survey.
Ninety percent of freshmen and 84 percent of seniors said their educational experience at CSULB was good or excellent. In addition, 85 percent of seniors said they would still enroll at CSULB again if they started over, according to the 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a widely-used college survey measuring student involvement with learning. NSSE was also administered at CSULB in 2006 and results for both years are similar, lending confidence that statistics are accurate for the campus.
CSULB students also reported more experiences with diverse groups of people and ideas than those at other colleges. Sixty-five percent of CSULB seniors reported that they often try to understand someone else’s point of view. Sixty-two percent of seniors said their experience at CSULB contributed to their understanding of people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds. Sixty-three percent of seniors said they often have serious conversations with students of different races and ethnicities.
In addition, the survey found the following:
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Student-Faculty Interaction - CSULB seniors reported substantially less opportunity for student-faculty interaction than students at similar institutions. Although CSULB seniors reported more opportunities than CSULB freshmen, both results were below comparison institutions.
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Academic Challenge - CSULB seniors also reported slightly less academic challenge than students at comparison institutions, but freshmen reported a level of challenge similar to comparisons. CSULB seniors reported a greater level of challenge than freshmen.
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Active Learning - When compared with students at other institutions, CSULB seniors reported moderately less opportunity for active learning, which includes collaborating with peers and participating in community-based projects. When compared with freshmen at other campuses, CSULB freshmen reported a similar amount of opportunities for active learning.
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Enriching Experiences – Seniors reported slightly less opportunity for enriching experiences beyond the classroom than seniors at comparison institutions. Freshmen indicated slightly more. CSULB seniors reported more enriching experiences than freshmen.
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Supportive Campus Environment – CSULB freshmen and seniors reported experiencing a supportive campus environment similar to students at comparison institutions.
The data from the survey will be used to help administrators and faculty increase student engagement and improve the quality of education at CSULB. For more information about the survey, visit the National Survey of Student Engagement Web site.
--Dave Dowell
