Theme 2: Becoming a Safe, Supportive and Welcoming Campus Community and Physical Environment

Reflective Essay on Theme II, Issue No. 2: Satisfaction with Operations and Services

CSU, San Bernardino has made many efforts to ensure satisfaction with its operations and services. The University has endeavored to improve its already-high reputation as a safe, supportive, and welcoming institution. As a result of such initiatives, CSUSB has not only maintained but also improved its reputation as one of the best places for learning and achievement in the Cal State system.

The University has tracked student, faculty, and staff satisfaction via system-wide student surveys, point-of-services surveys, and other methods. The University participates in the CSU-system Quality Improvement (QI) projects. Several departments and divisions within the University have been participating in Performance Measurement (aka Benchmarking) programs since 1993. Additionally, the campus has participated in system-wide student, faculty, and staff Customer Satisfaction Surveys since 1997. In general, the data confirm that students, faculty, and staff continue to be quite satisfied with the services provided at Cal State, San Bernardino. The results have been used to help formulate departmental and divisional goals. (http://www.calstate.edu/Qi/Reports/Reports.shtml)

What is the level of student, faculty, and staff satisfaction with operations and services of the university? What are their concerns and how is the institution addressing their needs?

More generally, the University has quite a history of participation with CSU-system Quality Improvement (QI) projects. Several departments and divisions within the University have been participating in Performance Measurement (aka Benchmarking) programs since 1993. Additionally, the campus has participated in system-wide student, faculty, and staff Customer Satisfaction Surveys since 1997.

Data from these studies have been arranged in a variety of forms. Past benchmarking data have been used to obtain funding for understaffed areas; the division of Administration and Finance has supplemented the surveys with "Department Visits," the results of which have been used to help formulate departmental and divisional goals. (http://www.calstate.edu/Qi/Reports/Reports.shtml)

In 2001, some areas on campus began formal Process Mapping projects. QI highlights include:

In a comparison of the most recent system-wide Customer Satisfaction Surveys, several of the functional areas from our campus were listed as top-rated: Facilities Services, Human Resources, and Parking Services. In a comparison of scores from 2001 to 2002, the satisfaction average for faculty/staff increased slightly while the overall student average remained the same.

The campus branch of QI, called Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), assists with the CSU QI projects, as well as campus-based projects. One such recent project was the 2002 Organizational Climate Survey collected from Administration and Finance division employees. The mean score for the division shows that employees as a whole are satisfied with their work environment.

CQI and other units within the University continue to monitor and assess the degree of satisfaction with operations and services. The university has appointed two staff members to act as Quality Improvement Facilitators (QIFs). Through the QIFs and other staff, the university has dedicated quite a bit of time to quality improvement efforts.

In particular, what are the rates of satisfaction of the students? What has the University done to improve services to students?

The following is a sample of results from various measures used to determine the degree of student satisfaction with operations and services in the University:

• The 2001 Survey of Graduating Students reported an increase since 1992 in CSUSB's academic reputation, high levels of satisfaction regarding faculty interest in students, and increased satisfaction with the general campus environment. Diversity and experiences with inappropriate treatment are still issues that the campus is looking into, though results from the 2001 survey were better than in 1992.
• An Ad Hoc Committee reported on findings from the Student Needs Assessment and Priorities Survey (SNAPS). In general, the campus has much to be proud of: the 1999 SNAPS revealed a much higher level of satisfaction than found in 1994. In most categories, the approval rating increased over 10%. In almost all areas, the campus was rated significantly higher than the average for the CSU system. The Ad Hoc Committee examined 21 areas or topics that received relatively lower ratings, and provided analysis and recommendations to the campus.
• The most recent Registration Survey, Winter 2002, found 94% of those surveyed (n = 7,365) indicated that CSUSB's campus environment usually and strongly supports and encourages student learning. 77.8% of respondents (n = 6,408) indicated that CSUSB is "a welcoming, safe university with an intellectual, physical and social environment that engages them in the life of the University." Students revealed a high degree of satisfaction with their course work, instruction, amount of academic and personal support, and campus life and climate. There were differing degrees of demand, however, between younger and older students, between majors, between full-time and part-time students for support services and, especially, for out-of-class activities and events.

In general, survey data clearly support that Cal State San Bernardino is a safe and supportive learning environment. Nevertheless, the University has undertaken several reforms in order to improve the already-high levels of satisfaction reported by students. Forms, services, and status reports are increasingly posted online, as well as more expedient assistance and communications to students. The following is just a sample of concrete reforms that have been initiated in recent years:

• Financial Aid has worked diligently to become as "paperless" as possible. All student financial aid applications, as well as scholarship information and forms, are offered online. The forms are scanned in or data is uploaded into financial aid servers to allow for immediate information retrieval. This process decreases the amount of time for students to receive financial assistance and increases accuracy when assisting students. Application status reports are readily available to students online as well as via phone. (http://finaid.csusb.edu/)
• The initiation of STARRS (Student Tracking Archive Retrieval Redirect System) has done much to decrease the response time to student requests, enhancing overall customer service. Among many benefits, processing time for admission applications decreased from an average of four weeks to one week, greatly increasing the response speed to student requests for application status reports.
• Registration is offered online and via telephone and Graduation updates and Degree Audit Reports (DARS) are available on the web. (http://enrollment.csusb.edu/)
• Career Services has worked diligently to offer many services online in order to bring a broader array of information to many students who prefer to obtain information from home. (http://career.csusb.edu/)

Recommendations

• Coordination of surveys and questionnaires. Many surveys and questionnaires are administered on campus as we focus more on quality improvement and assurance. These efforts should be coordinated to create synergy towards common university goals and to avoid overburdening faculty, staff, and students.
• More linkage and communication of survey results to actions, responses, and results of efforts to improve our campus. Perhaps a cross-divisional CQI Task Force could be implemented that reports to Administrative Council, Budget Council, and the Strategic Planning Council and would be responsible for reporting survey results to the campus community, as well as efforts to improve our campus and serve students, faculty, and staff better.
• The university could devise three to ten overall key performance indicators that measure improvement of the campus according to its strategic plan. Sample indicators might be:
  • Teaching and Learning: basic skills improvement, GE outcomes, findings from assessments in majors, freshman retention rate or ratio, graduation rate, enrollment/recruitment, faculty/staff development participation rate, advisement rate or ratio, and job placement rate.
  • Campus Environment: satisfaction averages for students, faculty, and staff with respect to operations; number of operations assessing and reporting satisfaction; auxiliary operations assessment; technology assessment; diversity assessment; and funding appropriations alignment with strategic plan.
  • Partnerships: development funding/campus funding ratio, and number or success of off-campus partnerships.

Additionally, university measures could be tracked using a Strategic Performance Management System (such as PbViews) that can be published online and shared with the University community. (See: http://www.calstate.edu/QI/pbviews/pbviewshomepage.html) Currently, many departments track satisfaction, but it is not apparent that the data feed into one or more "overall" University measures of success that are trended over time. (The University could setup a type of self-assessment "dashboard" to measure progress in key areas of campus life and the Strategic Plan.

Conclusion

The overall impression from the multitude of faculty, staff, and student surveys conducted in recent years is that Cal State, San Bernardino provides a safe and supportive environment. This opinion is especially prevalent among the students on campus. While the image of the University is not perfect, it matches up very favorably with other institutions to which it may be fairly compared. (See Full Report on this topic at: http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm2/thm2iss2fr.htm )