CU Boulder aims at maximizing the success of its students. The campus sets learning goals for undergraduate students and institutional goals for providing academic and social environmental resources that support students’ ability to thrive and succeed.

Graduates of the University of Colorado will be able to:

  • Think critically, comprehensively, and creatively about texts, artifacts, and problems
  • Communicate clearly in written and oral forms for various audiences
  • Understand and apply high ethical standards to all endeavors
  • Formulate and investigate research, creative work, and open-ended questions
  • Sustain complex arguments with appropriate evidence
  • Locate, evaluate, and apply relevant evidence and technologies to solve problems in their disciplinary areas of study
  • Understand and appreciate multiple historical and cultural viewpoints in their social contexts
  • Work collaboratively and individually
  • Solve problems even with ambiguous, contradictory, and controversial information
  • Participate in lifelong learning for professional and personal development
  • Contribute actively as civically literate citizens of the community, the state, and the world

Approved by the Provost and the Council of Deans at the September 13, 2011 meeting.

  • Student surveys: We routinely ask students about their experiences in the classroom and in other campus social contexts, making comparisons over CU Boulder departments and colleges, over time, and to results from surveys of students at other public research universities across the country. We make most results public on the Web, and use them to improve our programs. These surveys are sometimes campus wide, sometimes focused on specific sub-groups on campus. 
  • FCQ: Every semester, every student in every course has the opportunity to rate the course and instructor on nine key questions, and to offer "constructive comments to your instructor" on the Faculty Course Questionnaire. 70-80% respond. We make all ratings public on the Web in an easy to access fashion. Instructors use the ratings and comments to improve their courses.The ratings are used in promotion and tenure decisions and by students in selecting courses and instructors.
  • Graduation rates and time to degree:  We regularly check graduation rates and time to degree, and their relationship to student demographic characteristics, CU Boulder programs, and so on. We make our results public on the Web and use them to understand and improve the student experience at CU Boulder.
  • Checking trends: Each year we update and check trends on measures in a number of goal areas, including learning and education of undergraduate students, nurturing a diverse campus environment, leading in the use and study of technology, and providing outstanding student support services. We make all trends examined, plus a narrative overview, public on the Web.