Idaho State University receives a top rating for participation on national survey for student engagement

Idaho State University achieved the highest 2010 student response rate by a public institution in its enrollment size category to the survey “The College Student Report” produced by the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE).

ISU's response rate was 48 percent.

"The National Survey for Student Engagement survey gives feedback on what students find important in their college experience," said Christy Lauer, associate director of the ISU Office of Institutional Research. "The results of the survey can be used to compare your university to hundreds of others, similar in size and offerings, and to use the information to find out how you are achieving your institution’s goals."

Random students are surveyed at the freshman and senior level, measuring areas they feel are important, such as academics, student services, faculty involvement and social activities. The survey measures at the freshman level what students expect from their education, and what they received from their education at the senior level. Universities can use the information for everything from shaping academic decisions to forming recruitment strategies.

Lauer said this year the ISU Office of Institutional Research placed advertisements in The Bengal student newspaper and put flyers out about the NSSE so students would know they were not being spammed if they received the NSSE questionnaire via e-mail.  Those students completing the questionnaire were placed in a drawing for five $100 gift certificates to the campus bookstore.

According to the NSSE website, this organization, through its survey The College Student Report, "annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development." The purpose of the survey is to help provide "an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college."

For more information on the NSSE, visit http://nsse.iub.edu/.

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