News

News 

February 21, 2021

The Daily Californian

A survey published by UC Berkeley’s Student Experience in the Research University, or SERU, Consortium took a closer look at how the COVID-19 pandemic may hinder graduate and professional students from completing their degrees on time.

January 29, 2021

Journal of American College Health

This study examined whether program climate factors, stressors, demographic, and institutional variables were associated with doctoral students’ clinically significant generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder symptoms. Participants: This study examined doctoral students’ responses from the gradSERU survey, which was administered at five U.S. public research universities in 2017–2018 (n = 2,582). Methods: This study utilized confirmatory factor analysis and binary logistic regression.

January 14, 2021

Inside Higher Ed

A bipartisan group of three senators on Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office to examine whether colleges and universities are doing enough to make sure disabled students have the same access to learning during the coronavirus pandemic as others.

October 28, 2020

The Daily Californian

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted students with disabilities who are enrolled at large public research universities, according to a survey by the Student Experience in the Research University, or SERU, Consortium.

Inside Higher Ed

Students with disabilities are more likely to experience financial hardships, mental health challenges and food and housing insecurity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent survey report(link is external) published by the Student Experience in the Research University, or SERU, Consortium.

September 24, 2020

EdSource

Online learning will become a new normal in higher education for the foreseeable future. Not because faculty find emergency remote instruction gratifying or because students enjoy it so much they won’t return to campus. Online learning will flourish because universities will need it to stay afloat during a long and painful recession.

September 17, 2020

Quality in Higher Education

Quality assurance in higher education often emphasises the importance of lowering student attrition. The first year of study is a crucial period for mitigating risks of attrition as this is the time when students develop a sense of belonging, and academic and personal connections. This study explores the long-term effects of the first-year student experience on attrition during their four years of study using two longitudinal datasets from a highly selective Russian university.

September 16, 2020

Inside Higher Ed

Students of color and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have been more likely to suffer hardships as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and are in need of support from their colleges, a new survey of students at large, public research institutions found.

September 4, 2020

NASFAA

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the economy and disrupted higher education, many students faced food and housing insecurity. And according to a new survey, the situation has only become more acute in the last several months, with a higher rate of students experiencing food insecurity.

More than 1 in 5 college students faced food insecurity in the early months of the ongoing pandemic, according to the survey from the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium.

September 1, 2020

American College Personnel Association (ACPA)

Many student services professionals at post-secondary institutions may have familiarity with the unique needs in supporting international students' career development. Now in this time where our institutions are navigating changes due to COVID-19, it is important to find ways of how to facilitate international student career development in the virtual space.

August 31, 2020

Ed Source

With surveys showing that the pandemic is worsening anxiety and depression among college students, campus counseling centers across California are bracing for an expected sharp rise in the numbers of students seeking mental health services.

Like most college and university classes, psychological therapy sessions switched to online — or on telephone — in March. The campuses say they will try their best to advertise, expand and improve those virtual services and continue that way until it is safe to restore in-person meetings.

August 26, 2020

National Alliance on Mental Illness - Minnesota

Tired. Tired of not being able to be with friends, eat at our favorite restaurants, see a movie in the theater, or go to a concert. Physical distancing has been really hard. Add to that the impact of COVID-19 on our schools, jobs and important ritual such as weddings, graduations and funerals, and it’s no surprise that our collective mental health is being negatively impacted.

August 24, 2020

University Business

Depression and anxiety are rising during COVID, particularly among low-income students, students of color, women, LGBTQ+ students and students who are caregivers.

Mental health problems were also more prevalent among students who struggled with the shift to online and distance learning, according to a mental health survey of 45,0000 students conducted in May-July 2020 at nine public research universities.

August 20, 2020

The Daily Californian

According to a study published Tuesday that was co-led by the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education, the COVID-19 pandemic has had “looming negative impacts” on the mental health of university students.

The Sacramento Bee

The coronavirus pandemic has brought an onslaught of challenges for college students: virtual learning, financial responsibilities in the face of unemployment and an unwavering worry over possible infection.

Now, a new report on thousands of university students across nine public research institutions in the U.S. shows how those challenges manifest internally, with more than a third revealing they have been experiencing significant mental health problems.

August 19, 2020

Inside Higher Ed

About one-third of undergraduate, graduate and professional school students screened during the summer were found to have depression or anxiety, or both, which is a higher rate than seen in years past, according to a new report(link is external) by the Student Experience in the Research University, or SERU, Consortium.

August 18, 2020

Berkeley News

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be driving dramatic increases in depression and anxiety among college students, with more than a third reporting significant mental health challenges, according to a new survey co-led by the University of California, Berkeley, Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE).

Times Higher Education

Survey finds that rates of depression and anxiety more common among low-income, female, ethnic minority, LGBTQ and arts students

nature

Signs of depression among graduate students in the United States have apparently doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey that drew responses from more than 15,000 graduate and 30,000 undergraduate students at 9 US research universities.

KQED

The rate of students at universities who likely have depression is double what it was a year ago, that’s according to a survey released today from UC Berkeley and other institutions.

Story starts at 6:37

August 17, 2020

NASFAA

The ongoing pandemic caused by the continued prevalence and spread of the novel coronavirus has been especially trying for first-generation college students, with a new survey finding that the cohort was especially vulnerable to experiencing financial hardships, food and housing insecurity, mental health disorders, and obstacles to transitioning to online courses.

July 2, 2020

University World News

The coronavirus pandemic that shut down university campuses across the globe this spring has heightened concerns about xenophobia, harassment and discrimination among many international students enrolled in United States institutions, a survey suggests.

One in four international undergraduate, graduate and professional students expressed concerns about intimidating, hostile or offensive behaviour that occurred during the pandemic, the survey said. Most of those students also expressed increased concerns about their personal safety.

Times Higher Ed

Familiarity with remote formats tempered by concerns over racism and health, survey finds

July 1, 2020

The Pie News

International students at research universities in the US are generally satisfied with their academic experiences and institutional support during the pandemic but worry about their health, safety and immigration issues, according to a survey by Student Experience in the Research University Consortium at the University of California – Berkeley.

Inside Higher Ed

International students report higher levels of satisfaction with remote learning than their domestic peers, but they have concerns about issues of health, safety and immigration.

June 18, 2020

NASFAA

The vast majority of students at research universities plan to continue their education in the fall of 2020 even as states continue to grapple with containing the novel coronavirus, according to a new study reporting that only 1% of domestic students won’t re-enroll for the upcoming semester.

Inside Higher Ed

Ninety percent of undergraduate students at research universities plan to continue their education in the fall, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. However, 9 percent of students are unsure, and 1 percent say they won’t re-enroll, according to the Student Experience at a Research University COVID-19 survey. The report uses data from 19,155 students at five public research universities.

June 17, 2020

Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium is administering a special survey on the impact of COVID-19 on student experience at 10 US public research universities. The SERU COVID-19 Survey assesses 5 areas of the student experience for both undergraduates and graduate students impacted by the pandemic and campus closures: (1) the transition to remote instruction, (2) the financial impact of COVID-19 on students, (3) student health and wellbeing, (4) belonging and engagement, and (5) future plans.

November 16, 2018

The Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) is delighted to announce that Dr. Igor Chirikov has been appointed as the Center’s Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium Director and Senior Researcher. His first day at UC Berkeley will be December 10, 2018.

November 6, 2018

With funding support from the Volkswagen Foundation(link is external), the first gradSERU Research Symposium was held on October 4-5, 2018 in Hannover, Germany.

August 20, 2018

July 2, 2018

In an environment of declining public funding and rising tuition rates, many public universities in the US are moving toward a “progressive tuition model” that attempts to invest approximately one-third of tuition income into institutional financial aid for lower-income and middle-class students. The objective is to mitigate the cost of rising tuition and keep college affordable. But is this model as currently formulated working?

December 12, 2016

December 12, 2016 – CSHE is pleased to announce that at least eight major research universities will collaborate in the administration of the new SERU Graduate Student Survey (gradSERU) in 2017.

February 18, 2016

February 8, 2016 - Today, the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium begins administration of a revised version of its undergraduate student survey at 19 of its 24 member campuses in the United States. The 2016 survey introduces a framework that explicitly recognizes the multiple purposes and contexts of undergraduate education.

SERU Consortium offers a benchmarking survey on the impact of COVID-19

18 May, 2020

Dr. Igor Chirikov has been appointed as the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium Director and Senior Research Fellow

16 November, 2018 

CSHE Organizes First gradSERU Symposium 

5-6 October, 2018

SERU Research Symposium at the University of Minnesota

19-20 June, 2018

SERU Symposium at Berkeley & Conference 'New Universities and Nationalism'

15-17 November, 2017

SERU  Symposium at Rutgers(link is external)

June 15-16, 2017

SERU INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM:Data Driven Improvement of Student Experience at Research Universities in Asia

January 18th 2016

Undergraduate Education in the Public University Symposium

March 10-11, 2016

University of California, Berkeley 

SERU AAU & International Research Symposium

June 8-9, 2015

University of California, Berkeley

SERU Business Meeting and Colloquium

October 7-8, 2014

University of Minnesota

2nd SERU International Conference(link is external)

(link is external)May 15-17, 2014

Higher School of Economics - Moscow

SERU CONSORTIUM BERKELEY SEMINAR International and Study Abroad Students: Supporting Global Engagement and Exploring a Research Agenda , held at University of California, Berkeley on February 28, 2014.

November 25, 2013
Study Focuses on the Extent and Influence of Undergraduate Research Engagement and Offers Recommendations

February 13, 2013
New Members Join the Center's SERU Consortium 

SERU 7th Annual SymposiumMay 2-3, 2013 | UT Austin
Press Release