What do American students think of their universities today?

In an effort to delineate the situation in American universities and colleges, the research agency, YouGov, conducted a survey of 1000 students across the US on behalf of the SNF Dialogues. Some of the results of the survey were presented during the SNF Dialogues live discussion titled “The Role of Universities in Modern Democracy”, which took place virtually on November 12, 2024. The findings sparked a vivid conversation and the exchange of interesting arguments among the panelists, who consisted of both academics and students.

The survey ran over a period of three weeks and involved university students across institutions (private, public), socioeconomic status, gender, political affiliation and race, among others. Additionally, a weighting process[1] was applied in order to ensure that the results are representative of the student population and balanced in terms of age, gender, race, region and educational attainment. The survey’s weighting and matching methodology used estimates from the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey and the target population for currently enrolled students. Among the key issues examined in the survey were the impact of universities on a range of different fields, student satisfaction with the state of universities, as well as freedom of speech and expression on campuses.

The survey was compliant with both GDPR and the AAPOR Transparency Initiative[2] to ensure that student participation was voluntary and informed, while also posing unbiased and non-suggestive questions. Screening for the quality of responses was also applied in order to filter out partial or incomplete responses.

Diving into the results of the survey, students were asked to comment on the impact of various institutions on the current US landscape. Starting with the predominant theme in the survey, 81% of students responded that colleges and universities have a very or mostly positive effect on the US landscape, a hopeful note on the state of higher education institutions in the country. It is worth pointing out that small businesses scored the highest in terms of their impact on the country, with 88% of students believing in their positive effect. At the other end of the spectrum, however, lie large corporations, with only 37% of respondents giving them credit for a very or mostly positive impact on the country.

It would be interesting to compare the way in which students evaluate the impact of the universities and colleges they are currently attending with that of US universities and colleges overall. In both cases, students value the contribution of academic institutions to the advancement of scientific knowledge (76% and 81% respectively) and the future career prospects they offer to students (82% and 76%). However, only six out of ten students report that universities are doing a good job in terms of preparing students to participate in democracy (64% and 67%) and to stand up for important issues facing the world (60% and 62%), as can be shown in the graphs below.

In the same spirit, respondents seem to be very or somewhat satisfied with their university’s ability to provide them with instruction (78%) and the skills necessary to enter the modern workforce (76%). Nevertheless, when it comes to preparing students to participate in democracy, the percentage drops to 61%, highlighting their expectation that academic institutions should do more to cultivate civic education and engagement.

As far as the university’s adaptation to the needs of the modern world is concerned, 73% of the students asked reported their satisfaction. The level of satisfaction with the university’s integration of the latest technology into the learning process stands at an equal footing with that of the encouragement of diversity at 71%. Finally, 68% of students report being satisfied with their university’s provision of mental health support, possibly leaving some room for improvement in this domain.

Moreover, the overwhelming majority of students (88%) aligned with the belief that colleges and universities in the US should be doing a lot or somewhat more to promote freedom of speech and expression on campuses, since both of these values contribute to the creation of a “space for dialogue and disagreement” in the premises of the campus, as John Holmwood pointed out in his opinion article.

The survey concluded with two questions regarding the future of US universities. Looking forward to 2050, 59% of students expected universities to play a somewhat or much larger role in society, demonstrating their belief in the crucial contribution of academic institutions to shaping the future of our society.

In this light, most of the respondents (71%) also feel confident that higher education institutions can stay relevant to the needs of the modern world, as they are looking ahead.  

Finally, it is worth mentioning that students were also asked whether the US is mostly on the right or wrong track. Notably, the majority of the respondents (56%) admitted that the US is mostly on the wrong track. Since the survey was conducted right before the US Presidential elections, students were also invited to report their sentiment towards the potential outcome. Over half of them (55%) felt somewhat to extremely optimistic, with Kamala Harris being the candidate that most students (68%) hoped would win the 2024 election.

References

[1] Weighting is a statistical technique in which what matters most weighs most.

[2] AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative is designed to promote methodological disclosure through a proactive, educational approach that assists survey organizations in developing simple and efficient means for routinely disclosing the research methods associated with their publicly-released studies.