SRU receives high student ratings in national survey

SLIPPERY ROCK,. Pa. -- Results from the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement show that Slippery Rock University students consistently rate their college experience higher than do students at peer institutions.
SRU seniors gave high marks to their professors, with 77 percent reporting that they received prompt written or oral feedback from faculty -- compared with just 63 percent in the national group.
Slippery Rock students also outpaced their peers in the area of community service or volunteer work with 72 percent reporting that they had participated in such activities. On the national level, the rate was 59 percent.
The NSSE was launched in 1999, surveying randomly chosen freshmen and senior students who are asked a series of questions about their level of involvement in certain activities that show a high correlation to five learning benchmarks -- academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences and supportive campus environment.
SRU freshmen rated the university higher in active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction and enriching educational experience than students at other colleges and universities rated their schools.
Slippery Rock has made an intensive commitment to improving each student's curricular and co-curricular learning experiences and the physical learning environment, said Robert Smith, SRU president.
Data from the NSSE shows that students find these changes to be positive, he said.