A New Generation of Students: They are Unlike Those of the Past According to a Census Survey at the Nation’s Largest Research University

CSHE > News > A New Generation of Students: They are Unlike Those of the Past According to a Census Survey at the Nation’s Largest Research University

October 10 2007 – A new report provides analysis on the student experience at the nine undergraduate campuses of the University of California – the largest research university system in the US and one of the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning.

The report, A New Generation, provides insights into academic and civic engagement, with breakouts by racial and immigrant status, and is based on data from the Spring 2006 administration of the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey – a product of the Student Experience in the Research University Project based at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley. Among the major findings in this report are the following:

Demographic Background of Students

• UC is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse in complex ways that reflect major demographic changes in the state, with Chinese students now representing the second largest identifiable racial group in the UC system, followed by Chicano/Latino and then Korean and Vietnamese students. Most of these students come from immigrant families.

• At most campuses, the majority of students are either themselves foreign born or have at least one foreign-born parent; the exceptions are UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara, where less than half of students report they or at least one parent is foreign-born. Approximately 95% of Asian and 88% percent of Latino respondents reported that either they or one of their parents or grandparents were born outside of the United States.

• UC students come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds; for example, 24% report annual parental income under $35,000 and 36% report annual parental income of $100,000 or more.

How Students Spend Their Time

• UC undergraduates reported attending class an average of 16 hours per week and studying and preparing for class an average of 13 hours per week. Respondents who entered UC as transfer students allocated their time differently than those who came directly from high school, spending more time studying, more time with work and family obligations, and less time on co-curricular activities.

• First-generation respondents reported spending more time on academic pursuits than did other students; this is not surprising given that immigrant students were more likely to declare math-based and biological science majors than other students.

Academic Engagement

• Reporting on their behavior for the 2005-2006 academic year, about 83% of students reported never or rarely submitting a late assignment; by contrast, about 29% reported often or very often coming to class without completing the reading assignments.

• Students from more disadvantaged backgrounds tended to rank higher on indicators of academic engagement, both attitudinal and behavioral, than students from affluent backgrounds, a finding consistent with UCUES 2003.

• Intrinsic goals were emphasized by students from more disadvantaged backgrounds, as were goals related to careers and academics, while friendship and fun were more likely to be emphasized by students from more affluent backgrounds; these findings match data from 2003.

• ELC students were more likely to have foreign-born parents and to have been first-generation college-attendees than were non-ELC students. Their family incomes were lower, and they were more likely to describe their families as “working class.” At the same time, ELC students were more academically engaged than non-ELC students. They spent more time in academic pursuits and less time in “socially oriented” activity than did non-ELC students. These findings may have important implications for UC admissions policies.

Student Assessed Outcomes and Satisfaction

• 80% of students reported gains in understanding a specific field of study; the majority of students reported gains in the five individual factors making up the broader intellectual constructs of writing and analytic skills. Overall, we saw a steady increase in reported proficiency in writing and analytic skills for freshman entry students and transfer students.

• Mean satisfaction was highest for their chosen major, availability of library research materials, and quality of faculty instruction. Mean satisfaction was lowest for access to small classes and overall UC GPA, a finding consistent with 2003 results.

• Transfer students reported greater overall satisfaction with their UC experience than did freshman entry students.

• Just 26% of students reported that they intended their bachelor’s degree to be their terminal degree; choices of advanced degrees were related to respondents’ majors.

Of the nearly 151,000 students included the census survey, over 57,000 completed UCUES, a response rate of 38%. UCUES is a unique survey focused on the student experience at major research universities and linked to existing university databases that creates a powerful tool for policymaking and analysis.

The SERU Project is a collaborative effort of academic scholars, IR staff, and academic and administrative leaders at each of the UC undergraduate campuses and at University of California Office of the President. The report was prepared with the help of the Survey Research Center at UC-Riverside

CONTACTS:

Steve Chatman, SERU/UCUES Project Director and Senior Researcher
steve_chatman@berkeley.edu

Steven Brint, SERU co-Principal Researcher and Professor of Sociology, UC Riverside
steven.brint@ucr.edu

John Aubrey Douglass, SERU co-Principal Researcher and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley
douglass@berkeley.edu

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