Press Releases
Students Rate Saint Xavier Experience Highly
SXU Ranks Higher Than Many Schools, According to National Survey
CHICAGO (January 13, 2003) – Findings from a recent national study show that Saint Xavier University students say their experience at the Chicago-based school provides academic challenges in a supportive campus environment.
Each year, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collects data from more than 100,000 freshmen and seniors nationwide the extent students engage in educational behaviors plus activities that are known to promote learning and positive outcomes. Student engagement represents the combination of the effort students devote to educationally sound activities and what colleges do to prompt students to take advantage of these activities. Many studies show that engagement is a strong predictor of how well a student learns.
“What the NSSE data shows us is that students believe we are succeeding at our mission,” said Dr. Steven Murphy, Vice President for Student and Enrollment Services. “Students find SXU a great place to learn, and they also experience high levels of support from faculty and staff.”
NSSE results provide comparative standards for determining how effectively colleges are contributing to learning. Five benchmarks are measured: 1) level of academic challenge 2) active and collaborative learning 3) student-faculty interaction 4) enriching educational experiences and 5) supportive campus environment. Among these benchmarks, Saint Xavier ranked higher than many institutions in academic challenge and supportive campus environment.
The level of academic challenge indicates challenging intellectual and creative work central to learning. This gauges the promotion of student achievement by setting high expectations for performance. Among the rankings, SXU students scored in the top 5 percent nationally to the question, “To what extent does your institution emphasize spending significant amounts of time studying and on academic work?” They scored in the top 10 percent nationally on the item, “To what extent does your coursework emphasize synthesizing and organizing ideas, information or experiences?”
Supportive environment holds that students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to their success and cultivate positive working and social relations among different groups on campus. When asked, “To what extent does your institution emphasized the support you need to help you succeed academically?” both freshmen and seniors scored in the top 10 percent nationally. And, student ratings of the quality of their relationships with administrative personnel and offices on campus were exceptionally high – in the top 5 percent nationally for both freshmen and seniors.
This study is a compass that helps determine whether student behavior and institutional practices are headed in the right direction. According to the NSSE annual report, colleges and universities use student engagement results in a variety of productive ways including curricular reform, retention, advising, alumni outreach and self-studies.
“Last years NSSE results led to the establishment of a faculty-student collaborative grant program and a university writing council to promote writing with the disciplines,” said Dr. Christopher Chalokwu, Vice President for Academic Affairs. “We have begun to use the recent NSSE results to foster a campus wide dialogue on issues related to academic excellence, such as the role of service learning, senior capstone courses, and international perspectives in the curriculum.”
The NSSE survey instrument was developed four years ago by a team of national assessment experts under a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning. A total of 618 colleges and universities have participated in NSSE at least once over the past three years. Saint Xavier University is among 83 schools nationwide that have participated in NSSE all three years in an effort to better understand and improve the quality of the undergraduate college experience.
Saint Xavier University is a private, coeducational institution serving more than 5,200 men and women with high quality academic programs. It offers 36 undergraduate majors and 32 graduate program options in four schools: School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, Graham School of Management, and School of Nursing. Located in a residential neighborhood in Chicago, the University offers personalized education that emphasizes challenging undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs of study. Crain’s Chicago Business (July 1, 2002) recognized Saint Xavier University for achieving the highest percentage of enrollment growth among Chicago-area universities and colleges during the previous year, increasing 6.3 percent. And, U.S. News & World Report named Saint Xavier in its 2002 “Best Colleges” issue as a best value and for its diversity as a master’s degree-granting institution in the Midwest region.