At a recent retreat, the Duke University Board of Trustees discussed the current quality of higher education and how to measure it. The goal of the discussions was to find a way to increase the value of higher education for its students.

For Duke, educators want to use holistic methods to measure the quality of their students’ experiences, in part by surveying parents and alumni to get their opinions on Duke. Graduates cannot grasp the full value of a degree until their education is finished, says Richard Brodhead, president of the university, in the press release. “No one knows the value of their education the day they graduate, so the retrospective surveys are important to us.”

Duke’s discussion about how to improve its educational offerings comes on the heels of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showing that improved education is near the top of Americans’ list of priorities for the nation. Currently, Americans place improved education at number six on the list, behind issues like strengthening the economy and job creation.

To improve Duke’s educational offerings, the trustees discussed how to improve professional education. At the university’s Fuqua School of Business, for example, faculty members stress interdisciplinary courses that give students a more in-depth view of sectors such as energy or health care. Improved online education offerings are also a top priority for Duke, according to educators at the retreat.

Other academic programs evaluate their own worth by identifying tangible ways to measure the benefits of higher education. In a recent interview, Charles T. Clotfelter, a professor of public policy, economics and law at Duke, noted that universities often look at graduation rates or how much graduates earn after college. However, he acknowledged, it’s very difficult to pin a number on someone’s education. You can measure how much it cost to earn an education, but it’s more complex to put a measurable value on how much worth graduates derive from the knowledge and experience they gained at school.

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