A new Galllup survey underway this spring will determine students satisfaction with the education they have received, including their happiness with their jobs and level of overall satisfaction with their personal lives.
This is the first-ever such survey. Brandon Busteed, executive director of education practice at Gallup, said the idea came from the fact that United States university presidents had told him they had no real method of determining whether students felt their education had enriched their lives.
No one, Busteed told Times Higher Education, had “tried to do what seems to be the most important thing, which is to ask these graduates how they are doing.”
The Gallup poll will survey 30,000 people nationwide to try and discover whether they think their education improved their lives, leading to success and happiness. Several universities – Purdue is the only one that has publicly said it is involved – will then survey their own students and measure the results against the national data.
The survey intends to look beyond just financial outcomes. Questions will include:
- Do you like what you do at work each day?
- Is it what you are best at?
- How would rate your life satisfaction on a scale of one to 10?
- Are you recognized for improving your community?
Busteed told Inside Higher Education that Gallup is not trying to “suggest that colleges and universities are responsible for 100% of your great job and great life. But obviously if you to college and you get a degree, the odds are you increase the probabilities of a good outcome.”
Supporters of the survey say it will take a larger view on how college impacts a student’s life. Purdue University professor Mitch Daniels told Inside Higher Education that the survey was the responsible thing for the university to do in order to determine the quality of the educational experience at Purdue.
He added that Purdue owes future students and businesses who might hired their graduates this kind of research.
The results of the survey are expected to be published this spring.
Sources:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/12/17/gallup-purdue-study-will-measure-graduates-quality-life-outcomes
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/gallup-launches-graduate-satisfaction-survey-in-us/2011742.article
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