Student Success at Risk:
New Study Finds Lasting Post-Pandemic Declines in Student Engagement in American Public Universities —Proposed Federal Funding Cuts Could Slow Recovery
March 18, 2025 – A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, finds that student engagement across key areas of research university experience – academics, research, extracurriculars, civic engagement, and career preparation – declined during the pandemic and has yet to recover.
These findings, based on more than 800,000 student survey responses from 22 public research universities collected by the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium from 2012 to 2023, raise concerns about the long-term impact on workforce preparation and scientific innovation and highlight the urgent need for greater federal and state support for research universities.
The study, authored by Igor Chirikov, John Aubrey Douglass, and Gregg Thomson at UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), introduces the Multi-Engagement Model, a new framework for assessing the value of research universities beyond academics. The model documents how these institutions provide students with opportunities in research, civic life, leadership, and career development – experiences that contribute to student success in ways traditional metrics fail to capture.
"Our study shows the significant role research universities play in providing students with opportunities beyond academics," said Igor Chirikov, lead author of the study. "Before the pandemic, two-thirds of undergraduates were highly engaged in at least one area – whether academics, research, extracurriculars, civic involvement, or career development. The Multi-Engagement Model we propose challenges the idea of a single path to success, showing that students engage in different ways depending on their interests and opportunities."
However, the overall landscape of multi-engagement has declined across all areas since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic without a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels. While certain aspects of academic engagement, such as participation in class activities and level of student effort, have shown resilience, overall study time both in and outside of class continues to decline, with key relationships involving faculty having failed to fully rebound.
The data also show a decline in research engagement, with a significant 17% drop in students assisting faculty with research. Similarly, career engagement declined, especially in the number of students holding on-campus jobs, highlighting the enduring challenges in sustaining a robust multi-engagement environment.
"Revitalizing student engagement must be a top priority for research universities," said John Aubrey Douglass, Founding Principal Investigator of the SERU Consortium. "Expanding opportunities in research, community involvement, and career development is essential to reversing post-pandemic declines. However, recent research funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration would make this much harder, jeopardizing not only student success but also the future research and innovation pipeline in the U.S."
Read the Executive Summary here.
For access to the report, please visit The Multi-Engagement Model: Understanding Diverse Pathways to Student Success at Research Universities website.
CONTACT: John Aubrey Douglass – douglass@berkeley.edu; Igor Chirikov – chirikov@berkeley.edu