The University will expand learning opportunities – such as faculty-student research – after results from a national survey show a need for improvement.

A steering committee of 14 administrators and professors evaluated the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement, a survey of about 2,000 students – half freshman and half seniors – about their learning experiences at the University. The group issued a report on what to emphasize in the next few years.

“UGA students report that they work significantly less intensively than their peers at other universities like UGA,” the report said. “Faculty and students need to discuss these results and how to address them.”

The committee has not yet considered faculty responses but will release a report evaluating the discrepancy between student and faculty responses, Denise Gardner, co-chair of the committee and director of the Office of Institutional Research, told The Red & Black.

“We also haven’t evaluated student comments. You have to interpret those in context,” she said. “Our whole mission is to improve the student experience.”

In the report, 90 percent of freshman said they had a favorable image of the University, and 92 percent of seniors said they would choose the University again for their college career. Ratings on internships, study abroad and community service also increased from the 2005 and 2007 survey results.

When compared with the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, which monitors faculty responses on similar questions, differences were apparent.

A third of faculty said contact among students of different economic, social and ethnic backgrounds was encouraged, but about half of students said diverse contact is encouraged.

About 58 percent of faculty said they required students to spend significant amounts of time studying and on academic work, but 89 percent of freshmen and 79 percent of seniors said a large amount of time is required.

Only 32 percent of faculty said they emphasize the memorization of facts, but 74 percent of freshmen and 65 percent of seniors said memorization is required.

“Of more concern is the increased percentage of students who felt that their courses encouraged rote learning: the university might investigate why they perceive their courses stress memorization,” according to the report.

The University’s Task Force on General Education and Student Learning focused on service-learning and writing opportunities based on the 2005 survey results. This year, the steering committee will form focus groups of faculty and students during 2009 before implementing changes with learning opportunities, Gardner said.