UOIT earns outstanding marks in North American survey of university students

First- and fourth-year students place UOIT ahead of peer groups in key benchmark areas

UOIT students have ranked their university ahead of its peer groups in a comprehensive North American survey of students at 769 post-secondary institutions, pointing in particular to its state-of-the-art technology, academically challenging programs and collaborations with expert faculty.

The results of the highly influential National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) are based on the experiences of first- and fourth-year undergraduate students and designed to measure student engagement as an evaluation of the quality of education delivered by each surveyed institution. The survey releases scores in five benchmark areas, the results of which are determined based on a series of questions. UOIT finished ahead of its Ontario peers in all five benchmarks and in three of those five areas when measured against a select United States peer group and the overall score for the NSSE population.

In Spring 2008, 1,944 first-year and 739 fourth-year UOIT students were e-mailed a survey invitation, with an overwhelming 49 per cent participating, one of the highest response rates amongst Ontario universities.

"We are absolutely delighted with this year's NSSE survey results as well as the remarkable response rate we received from our students," said Dr. Richard Marceau, UOIT provost. "The outcome of the survey is a testament to the incredible learning opportunities we strive to offer to our students and our commitment to providing them with a leading-edge learning environment, world-class professors and innovative programs designed to meet the needs of today's knowledge-driven society."

In the benchmark category of Level of Academic Challenge, UOIT's first- and fourth-year scores of 54.2 and 61.2, respectively, were ahead of the Ontario average of 51.2 and 55.9, the scores of 53.5 and 56.5 of the U.S. peer group and 52.5 and 56.3 for the entire NSSE population.

Overall satisfaction also remained high in the Entire Education Experience category, with 83 per cent of first-year students selecting good or excellent, compared to 79 per cent of Ontario students, 85 per cent of students in the U.S. peer group and 85 per cent of the NSSE population. The trend continued for fourth-year students, with 82 per cent of UOIT students selecting good or excellent compared to 78 per cent, 86 per cent and 84 per cent respectively.

In the Use of Computers in Academic Work category, UOIT once again demonstrated that its award-winning high-tech mobile learning environment is well-received and utilized by students. An incredible 92 per cent of first-year and 95 per cent of fourth-year students noted they use computers very much or quite a bit in their studies, compared with 78 per cent of first-year and 84 per cent of fourth-year students in Ontario, 48 and 57 per cent in the U.S. group and 48 and 59 per cent of students overall.

The results, in conjunction with UOIT's strong performance in the 2008 Globe and Mail Canadian University Report, its previous NSSE results, and other reports, clearly indicate that students feel their post-secondary experience is meeting and often exceeding their expectations. For more information about NSSE and the results of the 2008 survey, please visit nsse.iub.edu.

The following graph details additional NSSE results:

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