Search

This report presents findings from an online survey conducted in May 2023. The survey was developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), in collaboration with Morning Consult. The survey was administered online by Morning Consult to a sample of 1,010 employers. The findings reflect employer perspectives on the outcomes and experiences that matter for career success and the degree to which recent college graduates are prepared to succeed. Employers were also queried on their thoughts regarding recent trends affecting higher education, specifically the emergence of microcredentials and legislative efforts to limit what can be taught and discussed in college courses. [Foreword written by Lynn Pasquerellaf.]

Based on a national survey of higher education professionals across campus roles and institutional types, this report examines how undergraduate learning and student success are shaped by an institution's common learning outcomes and commitment to equity, as well as by specific educational experiences and assessment practices. The findings indicate divergences in views among stakeholder groups and striking levels of uncertainty among faculty members, in particular, with regard to a range of campus practices and areas of emphasis. The report also demonstrates a consensus across all stakeholder groups on the importance of certain mindsets, aptitudes, and dispositions as essential outcomes of college, in addition to a dearth of goal-setting to close equity gaps.

This research synthesis aims to assess the state of research on the efficacy of high-impact practices (HIPs) in higher education broadly and with regard to the efficacy of community-based and civic engagement specifically. The focus of this synthesis has been intentionally narrowed to highlight common themes across empirical studies that meet a defined set of criteria for methodological scope and scale to better aggregate available evidence and clarify new empirical gaps. The parameters for the synthesis are intended to address the lack of generalizability resulting from much of the existing research on community-based and civic engagement that is focused on a single locale (e.g., campus or program) and/or based on small sample sizes (i.e., fewer than one hundred students). As such, this research synthesis includes only studies with a degree of scale that enables greater generalizability of findings, such as those that span multiple years and/or involve multiple institutions or multiple cohorts at a single institution. In Part I of this research synthesis, the authors review recent literature on the efficacy of HIPs on a range of student success measures. Part II presents an empirical analysis of the existing evidence on community-based and civic engagement specifically.