PBA Home > Institutional Research & Analysis > Performance Measures > QIS > Fall 2003 submission > CU-Boulder response

Response to CCHE Quality Indicator System Report of January 2004
The University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) strives to lead in the discovery, communication, and use of knowledge through instruction, research, and service to the public.

CU-Boulder's mission includes scholarship and research, graduate education, and undergraduate education. The quality indicator system is a limited set of measures for undergraduate programs only. The results verify the excellence and efficiency of CU-Boulder's undergraduate programs.

CU Boulder strives to improve, not merely maintain, our undergraduate, graduate, and research programs. Efforts for improvement are coordinated through campus strategic planning, CU system wide initiatives under Vision 2010, and a budgeting initiative, the Integrated Resource Management Strategy.

Comments on each indicator

1A: Baccalaureate Graduation Rates

• We are pleased that our four, five, and six-year graduation rates for full-time first-time freshmen entering CU-Boulder and graduating from CU-Boulder are above those of all other public institutions in Colorado included in the QIS report. All of CU-Boulder's graduation rates are consistent with those at other selective public research universities nationwide, and meet or exceed CCHE benchmarks.
• CU-Boulder's four, five, and six-year graduation rates for full-time first-time freshmen at any Colorado public institution (not only the original institution) are also the highest in the state, and exceed the benchmark for 6-year rates.
• However, we do not regard graduation or retention rates at any Colorado public institution (for students who begin at Boulder and then transfer to another Colorado institution) as meaningful measures for us. This is because most students who enter CU-Boulder as freshmen intend to graduate from CU-Boulder, not anywhere in Colorado. In addition, Boulder students who transfer elsewhere tend to move to colleges outside Colorado; this is particularly true for the over 40% of our entering freshmen who are from other states. This makes the "graduation/retention at any Colorado public" measures incomplete and misleading for us.
• Ongoing efforts to improve graduation rates include revitalization of the writing program, changes in academic advising and freshmen orientation implemented in 1998-99 and 1999-2000, and new leadership and residential academic programs to afford more students the opportunity for participation in small "academic neighborhoods" early in their studies.

2A: Freshman Retention

• CU-Boulder's retention rate is the highest in the state but under the benchmark by 0.9 percentage points. 83% of full-time CU-Boulder freshmen return for their second fall to CU-Boulder. Our efforts to improve graduation rates help maintain this high retention rate.
• At 87%, the retention rate of full-time first-time freshmen at any Colorado public institution is under both the benchmark of 88.6% and CSU's rate of 89.3%. As noted above, we don't regard this as a meaningful measure for us.

3A: Minority Baccalaureate Graduation Rates

• CU-Boulder's minority six-year graduation rate (the only one used) is the highest in the state, and well above the benchmark. It also increased from the previous year by 3.7 percentage points.

3C: Minority Retention Rates

• CU-Boulder's minority retention rate is just under the CCHE benchmark, but is the second highest in the state. CU-Boulder's minority retention rate at any Colorado pubic institution is under the benchmark by 2.3 percentage points and under CSU by 3.7 percentage points.

4: Achievement Tests

• CU-Boulder students exceed (on 5) or meet (on 3) the benchmarks-which are national or state averages-on all tests or subtests listed: GRE (verbal, quantitative, and analytic), Certified Public Accountant exam, and four content areas of the Program for Licensing Assessments for Colorado Educators (PLACE), the state teacher exams.
• We are the highest in the state on all parts of the GRE, and on all four of the PLACE exams where we had enough test takers to calculate a score.
• With solid performance in such a broad range of disciplines, the results again demonstrate the breadth of excellence of CU-Boulder's undergraduate programs.

5: Institutional Support Expenditures

• CU-Boulder's administrative cost per student FTE of $1,347 shows a high rate of efficiency. It is considerably below the benchmark, the average for the 33 public research institutions with student headcounts of 25,000 or more. This is one demonstration of the efficiency with which CU-Boulder operates.

6: Undergraduate Class Size

• Forty-six percent of CU-Boulder undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students. This percentage of small classes is among the highest at all Colorado public universities and exceeds the benchmark of 43%.
• CU-Boulder's percentage of undergraduate classes with enrollments of 50 or more students, 15.8%, exceeds the benchmark of 11%. However, it is well below that for CSU and similar to UNC, placing CU-Boulder as a leader among larger campuses in providing small undergraduate classes.

7: Faculty Instructional Workload

• Our average weekly in-class teaching hours for full-time faculty is 6.2 hours, with additional time in preparation. CU-Boulder's 6.2 hours per week exceeds the 6.0 per week reported for the University of Wisconsin at Madison for fall 2000 (most recent available) in "Achieving Excellence, the University of Wisconsin System Accountability Report 2002-03."
• CU-Boulder's full-time faculty spend more time than the measured average of 6.2 hours per week on activities directly related to teaching, including activities such as grading, preparing course materials, office hours, developing course content and new courses, advising, and supervising students. Faculty also spend additional time in other interactions with and for students, such as career assistance (e.g. writing letters of recommendation), and on committees considering such topics as curricular requirements, advising systems, teaching evaluation, and student outcomes assessment. In addition, most are by contract expected to spend 60% of their working time on research and administrative service obligations.

8: Undergraduate Participation in Special Academic Opportunities (institution-specific)

• 75% of the 3,076 calendar year 2002 bachelor's degree recipients who entered CU-Boulder as full-time fall freshmen had participated in at least one special academic opportunity. This exceeds the benchmark and our long-term goal of 67%.
• We are extremely pleased that three-quarters of our entering-freshmen graduates have participated in these special academic opportunities, for such programs are hallmarks of the unique total learning environment provided by a comprehensive research university with top faculty and a large and diverse student population.
• The opportunities we have considered are honors courses, independent study, credit internships, service learning, and independent research courses; courses sponsored by research centers including the museum; special research programs for undergraduates; study abroad; completion of an honors thesis in the major discipline; leadership, residential, and first-term small-group academic programs; double and student-designed majors; formal minors; combined bachelor's-master's programs; and academically-intense programs for students with specials needs.
• The four most popular programs each garnered participation by over 15% of the 2002 graduates: honors courses (17%), study abroad (27%), formal minors (18%), and first-year residential academic programs (23%). We are especially pleased that 27% of graduates entering as freshmen had studied abroad, for this special program is probably our most intense.
• Comparable overall (unduplicated) participation figures from other institutions are not available. Informal comparisons with estimates published in the Best Colleges issue of U.S. New and World Report show that CU-Boulder has much higher rates of participation in study abroad and honors than do other public AAU institutions that reported.

9: State Appropriations for Undergraduate Programs, per resident in-state undergraduate student FTE (institution specific)

• In 2002-03, CU-Boulder received $4,400 in state appropriations per in-state FTE. This is 35% of the AAU public average.
• Among the public research universities with available data, CU-Boulder's 2002-03 state appropriation per in-state student ranked lowest. This demonstrates an impressive return on state investment. CU-Boulder's resident undergraduate tuition and fees per academic year ($3,566) also ranked lowest.

The quality indicators touch on only a few areas of CU-Boulder's mission and excellence. The campus's vision statement, as clarified through strategic planning processes, is: To lead in learning, research, teaching, and service to benefit and enhance the quality of life for the people of Colorado. Accordingly, our planning efforts are directed at preparing the future leaders of Colorado, the nation, and the world and improving human life through learning. To achieve this goal we are focussing campus efforts and resources in four areas:

Undergraduate Learning Environment: Generate innovation in the undergraduate learning environment in ways that promote a sense of discovery and lifelong learning, critical thinking skills, and preparation for citizenship and leadership.

Research and Graduate Education: Continue our leadership role in advancing knowledge and understanding through research and graduate education with appropriate links to government, business and other institutions through outreach and technology transfer.

Diversity: Nurture a campus climate of inclusion, knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the full range of the human experience in order to foster a better society and to prepare students for the future.

Technology: Situate the University of Colorado at Boulder to be a leader in the technological transformation of the 21st Century, empowering the entire campus and its graduates to succeed in the world.

Last revision 01/08/04