Alumni Survey
Alumni survey offers insight into student life and alumni experience
In July 2007 Cedarville University initiated an Alumni Attitude Survey using the professional services of the Performance Enhancement Group, Ltd. The survey purposed to further increase our awareness of alumni opinions, needs, and concerns. Our goal was to enhance our services to all alumni.
Survey
The survey was distributed via e-mail to 10,000 randomly chosen alumni in our database. Nearly 2,000 alumni responded through a secure site which provided complete anonymity to all participants. The participants ranged widely from Cedarville locals to alumni living overseas, from our most recent alumni to those who fought in WWII after graduation. Gender and racial diversity were also represented.
The survey contained 30 questions, both multiple choice and short answer in format. This allowed participants to rate services and experiences on a scale as well to provide more specific comments, concerns, and suggestions about a variety of issues. Alumni responded about their experiences as students, as alumni, and on campus, as well as memories of student life, influential people and organizations, alumni activity participation, opinion of the University, alumni news distribution, and recommendations for the future.
Student Experience
Participants had to reach back to their days as students to respond to some questions. The student experience was marked by participants as a time during which they grew in their relationship with Christ while participating in social events such as intramural sports and student organizations. Also, athletic event attendance was listed among the important parts of the student experience. When asked to name one program or activity that most impacted their experience as a student, the overwhelming majority named a ministry team or involvement in a local church. The next highest ranking programs were chapel, athletic involvement, and MIS trips.
All of the organizations and programs that were listed were informed that they were named as positive Cedarville experience. In addition, survey participants were asked to name one person who had a special impact on them as a student. Those named were notified and given the anonymous comments about them.
Alumni Communications
In regard to alumni communication, participants clearly picked out alumni magazines (Inspire and Torch) as their most frequent source for news from Cedarville. The campus website was also a high ranking information source. Not surprisingly, the majority of the participants choosing the highest numerical response (20+ times) when asked how many times they have visited the site. The general satisfaction with the site was high, although many participants commented on their desire to see the Alumni page be made easier to navigate. There were also numerous responses expressing a desire for the page to become more widely used among alumni, leading to easier and more frequent communication between old friends. Along the same line of thought, the satisfaction with e-mail communication ranked poorly in comparison to its ranked level of importance. Email far outranked any other form of communication as the number one preferred way to be contacted by the Alumni Association. As a result of this finding and numerous suggestions within the specific responses about e-mail, the Alumni eNews became an integral part of reaching alumni through e-mail starting in early fall of 2007.
Alumni Association
According to participants, the most important roles of the Alumni Association are continuing general updates about Cedarville itself and other alumni, as well as providing ways for alumni to connect with each other, whether electronically or at events and reunions. When asked about what hinders participation in alumni events and gatherings, the majority of participants listed distance as the main factor. The Alumni Relations department is continually striving to maintain current and establish future alumni chapters around the country. All current chapters are listed on the Alumni website, as well as information about upcoming gatherings.
Alumni listed Cedarville's spiritual impact and "value and respect for degree" as the highest indicators of their overall opinion of the University. This is, of course, one of many reasons that we strive to maintain excellence in both spiritual and academic integrity.
The survey proved very informative and we received hundreds of valuable suggestions for improving our service to you as alumni as well as ideas for other departments and programs on campus. We will be sending out these suggestions to the appropriate department in the next month, so that their execution can be more efficient, more profitable, and have a greater impact for Christ on those to whom they minister.
