2015 University of the People Student Satisfaction Survey Results

Here at the University of the People, we care a lot about our students and their satisfaction with their program and experience. We want to make sure we listen to our students and make the necessary changes to support them in their pursuit of their dreams.

Each year we conduct a student satisfaction survey, and their participation means a lot to us.

In the survey we ran in fall of 2015, we saw again that 95% of our students are satisfied with the University of the People.

Similarly, 94% said they will likely or definitely enroll in their program again.

We wanted to know what made the University of the People a successful experience for our students, so we asked you a few more questions.

Who are the Students of UoPeople?

Before we dive into the results of our 2015 survey, let’s get some perspective by reviewing who are the students in UoPeople.

Demographics

70% of the students in UoPeople were male, and 65.2% were 19-35 years old.

Almost half the students (42%) were from North America, but the rest of our students come from all over the world. After North America, the two most popular locations were Africa (24%) and Asia (14%).

Academic and Employment Profile

Now, let’s talk about the survey’s population. The programs they enrolled in are pretty diverse. 34% are studying toward a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and 30% are studying toward a bachelor’s degree in business administration. But we also got a nice percentage of responses from associate degree students in these subjects – a combined 33%.

And that’s not all they do – because most survey respondents have a full-time job.

42% of survey respondents work 40 hours or more a week. 17% work 31-40 hours. That’s 59% of respondents who work a full time job. Only 10% of survey respondents said they don’t work at all, although our assumption is that some of these 10% include stay at home parents, who have a lot on their plate even though their work isn’t officially considered a job.

But if you think working hard slows our students down – think again.

The University of the People students take their education seriously and get high grades.

43% have a CGPA (cumulative grade point average) of 3.01-4.00.

What Did We Find Out?

Survey results put big smiles on our team members’ faces. Here’s why.

University of the People Students are Passionate About their Studies, and Find Their Courses Useful to Work and Life.

They say it’s easy to do something when you enjoy it, and it must be true for University of the People students. Not only do they get high grades, but survey participants ranked “been excited by a class” as their number one academic activity.

Clearly, they’re passionate about their studies – their grades indicate that – but there’s something else.

Even though some other universities students claim you can’t implement university knowledge in real life or the workplace anymore, our students feel differently.

The second most frequent academic-related activity survey participants engaged in was “used knowledge or skills from a course in my place of work or daily life”.

University of the People Students Find a Lot of Benefits in their Degrees

Since students use what they learn at our online university in work and life, we understand they find benefits to their studies here. But we wanted to drill down and discover the greatest knowledge, skills and personal growth they’ve gained from their experience at the University of the People.

The number one benefit survey participants identified was gaining the ability to learn on their own. It got an average rating of 3.6 out of 4 points. Developing personal responsibility was a close second, at 3.5 average points.

Rounding up the top 4 skills learned at the University of the People were critical thinking, plus integrating ideas and information – both got an average of 3.4 points out of 4.

The Details Behind a 95% Satisfaction Rate (According to Our Students)

By now, we had a good idea what matters most to our students, yet we wanted to know if satisfaction levels change between programs. To our content, we discovered that students in all majors rated their satisfaction level an average of 4.66 out of 5, with the highest per-major rating being 4.72 out of 5, and the lowest – 4.63 out of 5.

When asked whether they’d enroll again in the program, the average cross-department rating stayed consistent – a high 4.66 out of 5.

What are students most satisfied about?

Survey respondents’ top satisfaction reasons: online course registration, clarity of program requirements, appropriateness of instructional material and breadth of offerings within program of study.

Participants also indicated that they’ve thought advice from their personal Program Advisor at the University of the People regarding courses, academic goals, career goals, and even personal problems, and that the team has been pretty helpful.

On average, 92% indicated that the advice they received helped, with a little over half of those saying the advice helped quite a bit.

Students also indicated that their time at the University of the People helped them understand other cultures and backgrounds, and experience personal growth.

Survey participants said that it was easy (3.4 out of 4) to understand people from a different background, and that they weren’t afraid to expose gaps in their understanding (3.1 out of 4) because they felt like they belonged (3.2 out of 4).

In Summary: What Makes the University of the People a Successful Experience?

Our students are busy people. Almost all of them have a job, many of them have families,  yet our students are passionate, committed people, who put in the work, get the support they need and get high grades.

That’s because they use the knowledge and skills they gain here in their work and daily life. They learn how to develop personal responsibility and practice critical thinking.

University of the People students love how easy it is to sign up to classes and understand the material, not to mention they appreciate the courses’ appropriateness across cultures. Our students love getting to know and understanding different cultures.

Survey participants stated the team at the University of the People helps them with both their academic and personal journeys. Between the team and fellow students, students aren’t afraid to admit when they don’t understand something. At the University of the People, they feel like they belong.