| 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 )
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