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Steven Noble
Editor, Internal Publications
p. 403.440.5692
e-mail: snoble@mtroyal.ca

Fred Cheney
Media Relations Officer
p. 403.440.5195
e-mail: fcheney@mtroyal.ca

 

We’ve long believed in what we do here at Mount Royal and the rest of the world may soon join us in that belief.

Maclean’s magazine recently released its annual Student Issue featuring the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and Canadian University Survey Consortium (CUSC) annual rankings.

The overall NSSE rankings compare 630 universities from across the United States and Canada, while CUSC surveys strictly Canadian universities.

In the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and Canadian University Survey Consortium (CUSC), Mount Royal ranked among the Top-10 in eight of nine categories.

Fifty four Canadian universities took part in the NSSE ranking survey, which focuses on establishing best educational practices and examining how closely a university follows those practices.

Thirty one Canadian universities participated in the CUSC survey, which is more oriented towards student satisfaction.

Mount Royal’s name doesn’t show up on the rankings listed in the current issue because both the NSSE and CUSC results are sorted by feedback from fourth-year students.

This past year we didn’t have enough fourth-year degree graduates to qualify.

But, both the NSSE and CUSC also polled first-year students. Even though those results aren’t published in the Maclean’s article, that’s where Mount Royal University makes a big splash.

Of the Canadian schools surveyed, Mount Royal’s survey scores rank among the Top-10 in eight of nine categories and first in two categories: “percentage of students satisfied with our quality of teaching,” and “active and collaborative learning.”

Proud president

President Dave Marshall says that since we’ve designated becoming Canada’s premier undergraduate institution as a significant objective moving forward, this data indicates we are on the right track if not further along than we realized.

"We can develop any list of institutional performance indicators we want to, but in the final analysis it is our students' view of their experience with us that matters the most,” says Marshall.

“In assessing their experience here, students consider all of the things that are important to them; good instruction, how well they are prepared for the next step in their lives, the support and facilities and so on. Mount Royal appears to be one of the top universities in the country now, but our aspiration is to be the best in the country on all of these measures related to student success and satisfaction."

Maclean’s says the surveys assess, “how students are involved in various academic and extracurricular activities, how satisfied they are with their university and its faculty and how connected they feel to their school.”

Mount Royal’s Director of Student Affairs and Campus Life, Brian Fleming, says it is exciting to be recognized for something we’ve internally been taking pride in for years.

Student focused

“Overall, the results are very positive, but not surprising. Student success and satisfaction has and will continue to be a key goal for Mount Royal. I believe that for years, even decades, the 'student experience' has been Mount Royal's strength,” says Fleming.

“According to these recent surveys our students concur, especially in relation to what students from other universities think of their institutions.”

NSSE has established five “benchmark” survey points that serve as the strongest indicators of how a school is serving its student population: level of academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, active and collaborative learning, enriching educational experience, and supportive campus environment.

In each of the benchmark categories Mount Royal achieved higher than average ranking with exceptional feedback such as 92% of respondents saying their overall educational experience at Mount Royal has been positive. That statistic soared above the Canadian average of 79% in the same category.

The Maclean’s article also says “the higher a school’s scores from student responses on the five benchmark topics, the better the chance, according to NSSE, that its undergrads are learning and getting the most out of their university experience.”

As Fleming says and as President Dave Marshall has said many times, student satisfaction and the student experience are the bottom line at Mount Royal University.

Survey process

Peter Seto, director of the office of Institutional Analysis and Planning, says the surveying process itself revealed some interesting data about Mount Royal.

“The response rate of our students was 53%, while the average response is down around 38%,” says Seto. “That’s a very representative sample compared to what other institutions got. The students really stepped up and told us what they think.

“Over half of the sampled students responded to the NSSE questionnaire. That in itself represents a strong level of student engagement.”

Not all the feedback from the anonymous survey was positive, with comments ranging from: “Both websites, specifically MyMRU, are hard to navigate,” to “The teaching level is excellent. Mount Royal provides an excellent quality of learning,” and everywhere in between.

Both Seto and Fleming agree that the critical responses are just as important as all the positive feedback.

“There are still very important areas in which we could improve such as, 'a sense of belonging/community,' says Fleming.

“The degree to which students feel they ‘belong’ to something important is integral to their academic success and personal satisfaction. We will continue to do what we do well, and improve wherever it makes a difference for students.

“But just as an Olympian who won bronze might say, ‘I can get better; I can be the best,’ Mount Royal will do the same. We want our students to experience and achieve excellence — and we are going for gold.”

For more information on the outcomes of OAIP’s surveys visit their reports online (http://oiap/reports/reports.php).

— Steven Noble, Feb. 25, 2010