Okanagan University College Academic Graduate Survey Spring 2002 Prepared by JM Small and Office of Institutional Research December, 2002 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Executive Summary In June 2002, the Office of Institutional Research conducted a survey of all graduating degree students in order to gather information related to their OUC experiences. Of the 395 mailed questionnaires 125 were returned, giving a 32% rate of response which is within the acceptable range for mailed surveys. The questionnaire was similar to those used in previous years, thereby providing an opportunity for trend analyses. Other than the fact that females outnumbered males by about two to one, the graduate population was found to be typical of a community-based post-secondary institution. About half can be considered non-traditional students in that they are over 24 years old, are married and have family commitments. Students chose OUC primarily because of its location and affordability, as well as availability of the programs they wanted. Respondents were satisfied with most aspects of their programs and courses. As in previous years, the highest rated items deal directly with the professionalism of instructors towards their students and teaching responsibilities. Administrative and support services were also generally satisfactory, but rated lower than programs and courses. As with last year, but in a slightly different order, the highest ratings went to the reasonableness of tuition and fees, the friendliness of staff, and the quality of classrooms. A section was added to this year’s questionnaire that dealt with perceptions of Student Life on campus. The responses indicate that most students were satisfied with the campus climate. In particular, respondents expressed feelings of safety, belonging, and pride. Cross-tabulations were run to see if perceptions varied along age, gender, or program lines. Anticipated differences were found with regard to age and gender. In the case of degree programs, there were some differences in perception that could be of significance to program administrators and faculty. Generally the results paint a very positive picture of OUC. This impression is underscored in a series of closing questions that attempted to elicit a concluding judgement from respondents: • 50% of respondents felt that their program had exceeded their expectations, while 31% felt that their expectations had been met. • 44% felt that their program expenses had been a very good investment, while 32% felt that their outlay was a good investment. • 52% would be extremely inclined to recommend their degree program to a close friend, and 36% would be moderately inclined to do so. Office of Institutional Research Page 2 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4 2. THE STUDENT BODY........................................................................................... 5 3. MOTIVATIONS ...................................................................................................... 7 4. STUDENT SATISFACTIONS................................................................................. 8 5. STUDENT LIFE ................................................................................................... 12 6. CONTINUITY OF STUDY .................................................................................... 13 7. PROGRAM OUTCOMES..................................................................................... 14 8. GENERAL SATISFACTION ................................................................................ 16 9. CROSS-TABULATIONS...................................................................................... 17 10. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................. 21 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: COMPARISON OF THE GRADUATE POPULATION AND RESPONDENT GROUP ................ 4 TABLE 2: DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS ....................... 6 TABLE 3: FACTORS INFLUENCING DECISION TO ATTEND OUC...................................................... 7 TABLE 4: SATISFACTION WITH ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES ................................. 9 TABLE 5: SATISFACTION WITH PROGRAMS AND COURSES ........................................................ 10 TABLE 6: ITEMS MOST IN NEED OF IMPROVEMENT ....................................................................... 11 TABLE 7: PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENT LIFE ................................................................................... 12 TABLE 8: REASONS FOR INTERRUPTING STUDIES ........................................................................ 13 TABLE 9: RATINGS OF PROGRAM OUTCOMES............................................................................... 14 TABLE 10: EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES............................................................................................ 15 TABLE 11: DISSATISFACTION IN ADMINISTRATION & SUPPORT SERVICES BY PROGRAM............ 18 TABLE 12: DISSATISFACTION IN PROGRAMS & COURSES BY PROGRAM……………………………..19 TABLE 13: VERY LITTLE/ALMOST NONE IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT BY PROGRAM …….……………..20 Appendix A: Research Instrument Office of Institutional Research Page 3 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 1. INTRODUCTION In June 2002, the Office of Institutional Research conducted a survey of all graduating degree students in order to gather information related to their university experiences. The questionnaire was similar to those used in 1998 to 2001, with minor variations, thus permitting trend analyses for several questions. Of the 395 mailed questionnaires, 125 usable returns were received. The 32% response rate was down slightly from the past three years (37% in 2001 and 2000; 35% in 1999). While these rates of return are not unusual, the perceptions of respondents may be biased in a positive direction since satisfied students are more likely to respond than are the disaffected. The extent to which the respondents are representative of OUC’s graduating population can be determined by comparing survey demographics with population demographics (See Table 1). (Note: In most tables, reported percentages are based on the number of responses for each particular question. In many cases, the base is less than the total respondent group.) Table 1: Comparison of the Graduate Population and Respondent Group Variable Graduate Population (%) Respondent Group (%) Program of Study BA BFA BED (Elementary) BBA BSC BSN BSW 31.4 7.3 9.1 14.9 17.2 8.9 11.1 28.0 5.6 8.0 17.6 13.6 12.0 14.4 27.6 yrs 30.5 years 2.1:1 2.9:1 Average Age Female/Male Ratio The average age of the respondent group is about three years greater than that of the graduate population; and males are under-represented in the survey. There is a small over-representation of BSW, BBA, and BSN graduates and a small underrepresentation of BA, BFA, BED, and BSC graduates. Otherwise, the respondents are fairly typical of the target population. Office of Institutional Research Page 4 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 2. THE STUDENT BODY Examination of graduate population data in Table 1 shows that female graduating students outnumbered males by about two to one, as was the case in previous years. This may suggest a continuing bias in admissions and/or in dropout rate—i.e. more females than males enrolling, and/or a higher rate of withdrawal of males. A likely contributing factor, however, is the type of programming offered at OUC: for example, BEd (Elementary), BSc (Nursing), and BSW all traditionally appeal mainly to female students. The average age at graduation (27.6 years) indicates that OUC attracts a mix of traditional college-age and mature students. At the time of the survey, more than half were single (52%) and the rest either married, living with a partner, or previously married. Except for two landed immigrants, all are Canadian citizens. Three respondents described themselves as aboriginal Canadians (Table 2). Most (78.5%) of the survey respondents were already living in the Okanagan prior to undertaking their studies. A few came from other British Columbia locations, and three from Alberta. Five respondents stated they were from some location other than Western Canada. Regarding family tradition of higher education, there is virtually no change from previous years: 18% stated that one parent had completed a degree and 12% both parents. Respondents supported themselves from multiple sources. Employment appears to be increasing. Of those who responded to the question, about 88% were employed on or off campus, compared to 84% in 2001 and 64% in 2000. There appears to be diminishing reliance on the incomes of spouses/partners (25% in 2002; 32% in both 2001 and 2000). Likewise, support of family and friends is down from last year (29% in 2002; 40% in 2001). There is an upswing in student loans (64% in 2002; 55% in 2001; 53% in 2000). While these changes are not major shifts, they are all in the direction of more direct student accountability for their financial circumstances. Apart from this financial trend, the demographics are generally unchanged from previous surveys. Office of Institutional Research Page 5 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Table 2: Demographic and Economic Characteristics of Respondents Number of Respondents Percentage Area Okanagan Kootenays Northern BC Lower Mainland Vancouver Island Alberta Other 95 4 5 8 1 3 5 78.5 3.3 4.1 6.6 0.8 2.5 4.1 Gender Male Female 32 93 25.6 74.4 Age 21-24 25-29 30-39 40-54 55 or older 61 28 17 17 2 48.8 22.4 13.6 13.6 1.6 Marital Status Never married Married or partnered Divorced/Separated/Widowed 65 46 13 52.4 37.1 10.5 Citizenship Canadian Landed immigrant 123 2 98.4 1.6 Financial Sources Off-campus work On-campus work Student loan Prior savings Spouse/partner Family/friends Other 79 18 69 66 25 30 16 69.9 18.4 63.9 62.3 24.8 29.1 25.0 Variable Office of Institutional Research Page 6 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 3. MOTIVATIONS Respondents were asked to rate a variety of factors that might influence a decision to attend OUC (see Table 3). In the 2002 survey, this particular question was reworded to ask how important the following factors were to respondents when they chose to attend OUC rather than how important these factors are to future OUC students, as was asked in previous years. This change provides us with a better understanding of what influenced these graduate students to attend OUC rather than another institution. The factors, ranked in terms of importance, are shown below. Table 3: Factors Influencing Decision to Attend OUC Factor Important or Very Important Location 91.1% Cost of tuition 88.3% Availability of program 84.8% Living expenses 76.9% Class size 74.2% Parents/family 70.6% Academic reputation 67.2% Program reputation 66.4% Friends 50.4% Size of institution 49.2% Not accepted elsewhere 3.8% The three most frequently noted factors influencing the decision to enroll at OUC were selected by more than four out of every five respondents. Topping the list was location, followed in short order by cost of tuition and availability of program. Living expenses came fourth. By comparison with the last three years, location showed a major increase in importance. Living expenses showed a similar but less dramatic increase. In previous years, quality of instruction had received top mention but that item was omitted in the current survey in favour of two similar items: academic reputation and program reputation, both of which were ranked in the middle range of importance. Another new item—not accepted elsewhere—was acknowledged by only 3.8% of the respondents. OUC was the institution of first choice for 77% of the respondents. Of the 28 respondents having an alternative first choice institution, 11 indicated that it was the University of Victoria. Office of Institutional Research Page 7 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 4. STUDENT SATISFACTIONS Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction with Administration and Support Services and with Programs and Courses. Their responses are summarized in Tables 4 and 5 that display means and standard deviations for 35 variables based on the following scale: ♦ very satisfied 1 ♦ somewhat satisfied 2 ♦ neutral 3 ♦ somewhat unsatisfied 4 ♦ very unsatisfied 5 The “not applicable” responses were not factored into the calculations. Except for one addition and one deletion, satisfaction items were the same as in last year's questionnaire. Last year’s rankings are included for comparable items. (Note: Since a 7-point scale was used in previous questionnaires, comparison of item means was not feasible.) Most of the means for satisfaction with Administration and Support Services (Table 4) are below the scale mean of 3.0, indicating general satisfaction overall. The best mean scores (below 2.0) were accorded to Tuition/fee level of the program, Friendliness/courtesy of program staff and Quality of course classrooms. However, 18 of the 23 items fell in the range between somewhat satisfied and neutral. The two poorest scoring items (above 3.0) are Counsellors’ course and program information, and Co-op Employment Services. Several of the items receiving relatively poor ratings also have a low frequency of response. In other words, services targeted at specific needs appear to be among the least satisfactory. The four services with the biggest standard deviations are Counsellors’ course and program information, Availability of courses in your specialty, Availability of required degree courses, and Quality of library services. The variations in satisfaction with these, and other items, might depend on the degree being pursued. This possibility is explored later in the report in the section dealing with differences in responses by program. To compare this year’s with last year’s ratings, ranking shifts of 5 or more places are presented: Improving: • Admissions course and program information; • Departmental faculty advisors’ course and program information; • Quality of library resources; • Leadership of dean of your academic area; • First Nations services. Declining: • Access to computers; • Financial awards; • Athletic recreational programming; • Disability services. Office of Institutional Research Page 8 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Table 4: Satisfaction with Administration and Support Services Frequency Mean S.D. 2002 Rank 2001 Rank 124 1.79 0.91 1 1 124 1.85 1.03 2 3 125 1.99 1.09 3 2 123 2.21 1.12 4= 13 117 2.21 1.27 4= 4 115 2.23 1.17 6 11 125 2.27 1.36 7 NA Quality of library services 125 2.31 1.40 8 15 Food service availability 120 2.38 1.24 9 5 Ease of class registration process Leadership of dean of your academic area 125 2.41 1.28 10 9 115 2.50 1.26 11 18 115 2.51 1.22 12 12 120 2.56 1.29 13 6 123 2.60 1.46 14 16= 49 2.63 1.25 15 21 125 2.66 1.43 16 16= 97 2.75 1.29 17 10 117 2.82 1.20 18 20 78 2.85 0.90 19 8 Disability Services 49 2.88 0.95 20 14 Student Affairs Advisors course and program info. 91 2.96 1.28 21 22 Counsellors’ course and program information 112 3.04 1.53 22 23 Co-op Employment Services 64 3.14 1.14 23 19 Quality of computing resources NA NA NA NA 7 Service Tuition/fee level of the program Friendliness/courtesy of program staff Quality of course classrooms Admissions course and program information Parking availability Departmental faculty advisors course & program Information Access to library resources Training to utilize computing resources Access to computers Availability of courses in your specialty First Nations Availability of required degree courses Financial Awards Responsiveness of administration to student concerns Athletic Recreational Programming Office of Institutional Research Page 9 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Satisfaction with programs and courses is shown in Table 5. The mean scores are generally better than for administration and support services. For example, more than half of the items obtained a score of less than 2, indicating the range somewhat satisfied to very satisfied. Table 5: Satisfaction with Programs and Courses 2002 Rank 1 2001 Rank 1 0.93 2 NA 1.79 1.16 3 2 124 1.80 1.07 4 3 Instructors treat students with respect 125 1.90 1.25 5= 5 Theoretical focus of program 125 1.90 0.92 5= 4 Quality of courses/instruction 125 1.97 1.16 7 6 Program expectations 125 2.05 0.91 8 7 Practical focus of program 125 2.17 1.18 9 8 Communication of program expectations 125 2.26 1.16 10 9 Standard of evaluation for coursework 125 2.29 1.14 11 10 Program flexibility 123 2.46 1.12 12 11 Service Frequency Mean S.D. Accessibility of instructors outside class 124 1.60 0.90 Availability of instructors outside of class time 124 1.77 Expertise of faculty in my area 124 Instructors’ pride in teaching As was the case last year, the most satisfactory deal directly with the professionalism of faculty members: accessibility, availability, expertise, pride in teaching, and attitude towards their students. The lower rated items focus on course and program organization and requirements, but they are still rated favorably overall. The similarity in rank order of items with last year’s is quite striking and confirms the high regard that students have for OUC’s faculty. Office of Institutional Research Page 10 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 The generally high satisfaction of students notwithstanding, it would advantage the University College to examine items that had the highest percentages of respondents expressing dissatisfaction. For this analysis an arbitrary cut-off is needed. Table 6 displays, in order, those items having 20% or more respondents selecting very unsatisfied or somewhat unsatisfied. Ten of the 12 items making the list are from Administration and Support Services. Table 6: Items Most in Need of Improvement Satisfaction Item Percentage very unsatisfied or somewhat unsatisfied Counsellors’ course and program information 36.8 Availability of required degree courses 34.4 Availability of courses in your specialty 33.6 Ease of class registration process 26.4 Quality of library services 25.6 Access to computers 24.0 Responsiveness of program administration to student 23.2 concerns Access to library resources 22.4 Standard of evaluation for coursework 21.6 Program flexibility 20.8 Parking availability 20.8 Financial awards 20.0 Office of Institutional Research Page 11 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 5. STUDENT LIFE A new section was included in this year’s survey which asked for respondents’ views on student life at OUC (Table 7). Table 7: Perceptions of Student Life Descriptive statement Strongly Strongly Agree Disagree 6.6% 59.0% 26.2% 8.2% OUC has a strong sense of school spirit. 1.6% 32.8% 48.4% 17.2% My affiliation with OUC is a source of pride. 18.5% 57.1% 18.5% 5.9% 15.7% 61.2% 20.7% 2.5% 5.8% 49.6% 35.4% 9.1% 18.2% 45.5% 30.6% 5.8% I felt I belonged at OUC as a student. 25.0% 63.7% 11.3% 0.0% I felt safe at OUC. 43.6% 51.6% 4.8% 0.0% I felt well informed about campus activities. 5.7% 41.1% 42.7% 10.5% Social clubs and groups on campus promoted community spirit in general. OUC supports a diverse multicultural environment. agree disagree Extra-curricular activities that bring students, faculty, and staff together were encouraged at OUC. There was personal support for the individual student at OUC. The responses indicate that most students were satisfied with life at OUC. 95% felt safe; 88% had a sense of belonging; and 76% felt proud of their affiliation with the University College. Yet 66% sensed a lack of school spirit. Reasons for the absence of school spirit are not readily apparent. Communication may be one factor-- more than half felt uninformed about campus activities. Perhaps more effort could be expended on extra-curricular activities bringing students, faculty, and staff together; and social clubs, though seen to be a positive factor by 66% of the respondents, could try to reach out to a wider sector of the campus community. An alternative view of the situation is that all is well with student life, given an institution catering to a mainly commuting body of students who have the opportunity to participate in community and home-based activities. Office of Institutional Research Page 12 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 6. CONTINUITY OF STUDY About 74% of respondents completed their degree programs within a five-year time frame, and only 7.6% had taken seven or more years. The mode for program completion was four years. These rates suggest that students are concentrating their studies more than in the recent past. For example, in the 2001 survey 37% had taken seven or more years, and in 2000 the corresponding figure was 22%. Respondents were asked if they had ever interrupted their studies for a term or more, not including inter-session, for any of a variety of given reasons (see Table 8). The majority of respondents (73.6%) reported no such interruptions. Rates of and reasons for withdrawal have been fairly constant over the past few years, the most common being employment (10.4% of respondents), followed by child-raising (7.2%). Table 8: Reasons for Interrupting Studies Percentage Reporting Reason 2002 2001 2000 1999 Illness 4.0 3.1 2.1 4.8 Employment 10.4 12.5 14.0 15.5 Have or raise children 7.2 4.7 8.0 3.7 Other family reasons 4.0 2.3 6.3 4.9 Travel 5.6 3.1 6.2 6.2 0 0.8 3.1 2.5 7.2 9.4 12.4 14.8 Required to withdraw by OUC Other (unspecified reasons) Office of Institutional Research Page 13 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 7. PROGRAM OUTCOMES Respondents were asked to rate 19 learning outcomes on a 5-point scale as follows: A great deal (1), quite a bit (2), some (3), very little (4), and almost none (5) The lead question was, How much did your education at OUC contribute to improvement in each of the following areas? Table 9 displays their responses in rank order by mean, along with previous rankings. An examination of Table 9 reveals that, as in the previous three years, the impact of the programs collectively is greatest in terms of intellectual skills and weakest with respect to pragmatic skills. Research skills, critical judgement, and writing skills were rated as quite a bit to a great deal enhanced by degree programs. All but one of the listed outcomes, however, were rated as having been developed to at least some extent on average. Only advanced computer skills fell in the range some to very little. The outcome item means and ranks are consistent with those from the 1999 to 2001 surveys. This finding reflects the overall stability of OUC’s degree programs, which are generally oriented to liberal education. Some differences by program were found, as anticipated, and are presented later in the report. Table 9: Ratings of Program Outcomes Research skills Critical judgement Writing skills Speaking skills Ability to learn on one's own Problem solving skills Creative thinking Ability to work effectively in teams Ability to work well with others Ability to work across disciplines Leadership skills Awareness of ethical issues Self-confidence 1.74 1.81 1.86 2.07 2.08 2.10 2.15 2.21 2.25 2.29 2.34 2.34 2.34 2002 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11= 11= 11= Conflict resolution skills 2.44 14 15 15= 15= 2.59 15 14 14 13= 2.65 2.83 2.90 3.10 16 17 18 19 16 NA NA 17 17 15= 18 19 18 15= 17 19 Skill Item Development of skills employers seek Basic computer skills Career prospects New career possibilities Advanced computer skills Office of Institutional Research Mean 2001 Rank 1 3 3 4= 4= 10 8 12 9 6 13 11 7 2000 Rank 1 2= 2= 5= 4 5= 5= 5= 5= 5= 12= 5= 12= 1999 Rank 1 2 3 7= 4 5= 5= 9= 9= 9= 13= 7 9= Page 14 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Employment outcomes are presented in Table 10 along with data from the three previous surveys. Only about half of the year 2002 respondents had secured a job at graduation, compared to about two-thirds in prior years. However, more of these jobs were stated to be full-time and permanent. As before, the majority of respondents who had secured a job considered it to be directly related to their studies. Respondents with jobs reported a wide range of annual salaries: $20,000 to over $45,000. The modal range (35% of respondents) was $20,000 to $25,000, while 20% reported salaries in excess of $40,000. Table 10: Employment Outcomes Job secured at graduation 2002 Survey 51% 2001 Survey 67% 2000 Survey 65% 1999 Survey 69% Clearly related to studies 63% 62% 67% 62% Permanent position Full-time position 51% 63% 31% 38% 56% 53% 41% 59% Outcome Office of Institutional Research Page 15 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 8. GENERAL SATISFACTION Three questions were related to general satisfaction with the university-college experience. Respondents' answers indicated that: • 50% felt their program expectations had been exceeded and 31% felt that their expectations had been met. Only 19% felt that their experience had not been equal to their expectations. These percentages are almost identical (within 1%) to last year’s figures. • In terms of value of education as an investment, there was a slight falling off from last year: 44% felt that their degree expenditures had been a very good investment, as compared to 67% last year. However, 32% felt that their degree program had been a good investment and 17.6% a fair investment. Only 6.4% felt that they had made a poor or very poor investment. • 52% would be extremely inclined to recommend their degree program to a close friend, up from 43% last year; and 36% would be moderately inclined to so recommend. However, 12% would not be inclined to recommend their program to a friend. These responses reveal a very high level of general satisfaction with experiences at OUC and continue the trend noted in previous years. Office of Institutional Research Page 16 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 9. CROSS-TABULATIONS While keeping in mind that the survey was drawn on a population of respondents and may not lend itself to inferential analysis, cross-tabulations were run by age, gender and degree program to explore group differences in perceptions. Some statistically significant chi sq. differences were found (p< or = .05) by age and by gender and these were associated mainly with choice of program. For example, professional programs attract a slightly older group of students than do Arts and Science programs. The BSN, BED, and BSW have a large majority of female students. DIFFERENCES BY PROGRAM Of major significance in this survey are any associations that exist between degree programs and students’ satisfactions; and between programs and outcomes. In particular it may be useful to examine dissatisfaction as a sign of needed action. Tables 11, 12, and 13 display frequencies that fall into this category. The potential frequencies displayed by the name of each degree program represent the total number of respondents in each. However, some students did not answer certain questions, so the effective frequency might be smaller than that shown. Variables highlighted by an asterisk * have chi-square values that are statistically significant at p< or = .05. As an illustration of how to read these tables, in Table 11, seven of 35 potential BA respondents judged themselves as somewhat unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with Admissions course and program information. Caution needs to be exercised in interpreting these data for at least four reasons: i.) ii.) iii.) iv.) they focus on negative responses in neglect of positive responses; the frequencies being quite small may reflect idiosyncratic biases; the various programs have diverse goals which do not lend themselves to uniform evaluation; and perceptions relate to total program experiences that might have stretched over a four to seven year period and may not reflect current conditions. Judgements are left to program administrators and faculty members who are best positioned to draw inferences. Office of Institutional Research Page 17 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Table 11: Frequency of Dissatisfaction in Administrative and Support Services by Program Degree Program/ Potential Frequency Admissions course & program information* Counsellors’ course & program information BA 35 BFA 7 BSC 17 BSW 18 BBA 22 7 BSN 15 BED 10 3 5 17 1 5 5 6 4 7 Student Affairs course & program information 12 1 1 1 3 1 4 Departmental faculty course & program info* 3 1 1 1 1 8 26 5 3 4 25 6 2 3 1 5 1 5 1 2 3 3 Availability of required degree courses* Availability of courses in your specialty* Quality of course classrooms 3 Quality of library services* 17 4 Access to library resources* 14 8 Access to computers 9 6 Training to utilize computing resources* 10 Responsiveness of the program administration to student concerns* 9 Leadership of dean of your academic area* 6 Tuition/fee level of the program* 1 Ease of class registration process 14 3 Friendliness/courtesy of the program staff* 1 2 Parking availability 7 Food service availability 7 Financial awards 8 Disability services 2 Athletic/recreational programming Co-op employment services First Nations services* 4 8 Office of Institutional Research 1 1 1 1 1 9 4 1 2 4 1 2 2 2 4 5 2 6 2 3 1 2 3 2 2 2 4 2 5 3 1 2 1 4 4 2 6 6 1 3 5 3 3 3 4 3 2 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 5 1 2 1 3 2 3 2 Page 18 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Table 12: Frequency of Dissatisfaction in Program and Course Services by Program Degree Program/ Potential Frequency BA 35 BFA 7 Program flexibility* 9 Standard of evaluation for coursework* 5 5 Program expectations* 1 4 7 4 4 2 Communication of program expectations* Expertise of faculty in my area of interest* Accessibility of instructors outside class* Instructors’ pride in teaching BSC 17 BSW 18 BBA 22 BSN 15 BED 10 5 3 2 1 6 2 3 4 3 5 2 4 3 4 2 2 4 3 1 1 1 4 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 4 2 5 1 3 3 2 3 7 Practical focus of program* 7 4 3 1 2 5 Theoretical focus of program* 2 2 1 3 1 1 Quality of courses and instruction* Instructors treat students with respect* Availability of instructors outside of class time* Office of Institutional Research 2 1 2 Page 19 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 Table 13: Frequency of Very Little and Almost None in Skill Development by Program Degree Program/ Potential Frequency BA 35 BFA 7 BSC 17 BSW 18 1 1 Writing skills 3 Speaking skills* 3 Research skills* 2 Critical judgement 3 1 Creative thinking 4 1 3 4 Ability to learn on own* 2 2 1 2 Problem-solving skills* 2 2 Conflict resolution skills* 9 2 Basic computer skills* 12 Advanced computer skills* 20 Awareness of ethical issues* Career prospects 1 BBA 22 3 1 BSN 15 BED 10 1 3 1 3 1 3 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 4 3 1 2 1 6 2 1 3 12 3 3 7 19 4 4 2 3 3 5 13 4 2 1 2 1 2 14 5 5 5 6 3 6 Self-confidence* 4 1 1 1 2 3 6 Leadership skills and abilities* 4 2 1 4 Ability to work well with others 4 3 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 2 3 3 3 Development of skills employers seeking* New ideas about career possibilities* Ability to work across disciplines Ability to work effectively in teams* Office of Institutional Research 6 3 6 6 9 4 1 4 3 2 Page 20 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 10. CONCLUSIONS 1. The demographics of the graduating population are typical of a small communitybased university, namely a mixture of traditional college-aged and older students. The average age at graduation is 27.6 years. 2. Female graduates outnumbered males by 2.1 to 1. 3. There is a very small representation of aboriginal people in the graduates. 4. 76% of survey respondents were living in the Okanagan prior to undertaking their studies. 5. Graduation demographics have been stable over the past four years. 6. Students appear to be concentrating their studies more than in previous years: Three out of four completed their degrees within five years. 7. Respondents reported more self-reliance in financial support, including increased employment and student loans, while relying less on spouses/partners and family compared to previous years. 8. OUC was the institution of first choice for 77% of the respondents. While continuing to be strongly influenced by availability of desired programs, respondents gave primary consideration to location and costs as motivating factors. 9. Graduates were generally satisfied with their experience at OUC. Courses and Programs received higher satisfaction ratings than did Administrative and Support Services. 10. Respondents were generally satisfied with student life in their campus communities. In particular the majority expressed feelings of safety, belonging, and pride of affiliation. 11. The quality of teaching and the professionalism of faculty, both in and outside of classes, continue to be highly regarded. 12. Friendliness and courtesy of staff appears to be a hallmark of OUC. 13. Intellectual skills are developed more than pragmatic skills in the majority of programs. 14. Fewer respondents noted having secured jobs at graduation-- about half, compared to two out of three last year. However, there was a slight increase in full-time and permanent positions. 15. 81% percent felt that their programs had met or exceeded their expectations. 16. There was a slight falling off in perceived value as an investment. 44% felt that their degree expenditures had been a very good investment, compared to 67% last year. Office of Institutional Research Page 21 2002 Academic Graduate Survey Winter, 2002 17. 88% would recommend their program to a close friend. This figure includes 52% who would be extremely inclined to do so, compared to 43% last year. 18. There were some differences between respondents when grouped by age or gender. Age and gender differences among programs can be readily explained in terms of the program’s goals and target clientele. 19. There were significant differences in perceptions among graduates when grouped by degree program. 20. The findings of the survey, along with those from the past few years, portray a university college that is generally fulfilling expectations of its student clientele, especially regarding the quality of its programs and instruction. There continue to be administrative and support service issues, as well as challenges within specific programs. Office of Institutional Research Page 22