Welcome to the 12th Annual

�Quality of Life Survey �Town Hall

April 26th, 2023

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Agenda

1. Survey Design and Analysis
2. Overview
3. Academics
4. Student Life
5. Diversity, Equity, �and Inclusion (DEI)

6. Professional Development �& Leadership
7. Career Placement & Networking
8. Health and Safety
9. Facilities
10. Housing

Survey Design �& Analysis

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Survey Design

• Open from March 28 - April 14
• Comprised of 131 Questions
• Mixture of MCQs and text entry
• Likert Scale (1-5) → Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree
• Logic-based survey flow, fewer mandatory questions to shorten survey experience
• Completion prizes and raffle prizes as incentives to boost participation
• Survey was accessible via QR codes, �across devices and across sessions

Overview

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Participation by Degree

• Participation rates by academic program:
1. M.S. (27.2%)
2. M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. (44.3%)

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• Professional Degree only takes up 0.2% of the total responses.

We received 1007 responses across all graduate programs and departments.

Total responses

1,007

Master of Science(M.S.)

61.8%

Professional Degree

0.2%

M.S./Ph.D.

9.4%

Doctor of Philosophy(Ph.D.)

28.6%

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Participation by Identity

Our survey respondents identified their gender as male (56.3%) or female (39.6%), with 4.1% identifying as "Other."

LGBTQ+

Gender

Total responses

1,007

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No

87.6%

Yes�12.4%

Total responses

1,007

Other

4.1%

Male

56.3%

Female

39.6%

12.4% of respondents identified as LGBTQ+.

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Participation by Department

• All departments are well-represented in our survey, providing a diverse range of responses.
• The proportions of departments closely resemble those from 2022.

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Overall Satisfaction

Large majority of students are satisfied with overall experience in Columbia SEAS.

Strongly

Disagree

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1.5%

Key statistics

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• Satisfaction rate: 77%
• Dissatisfaction rate: 9%

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• Majority of respondents felt positively about their overall satisfaction at Columbia SEAS, with 21.9% strongly agreeing and 55.3% agreeing.
• 13.8% of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed, while only a small proportion of respondents disagreed (7.5%) or strongly disagreed (1.5%) with their overall satisfaction.

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Overall Satisfaction: 2023 vs 2022

The overall satisfaction has significantly improved compared to 2022.

Key Statistics

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Most significant change happens in “Strongly Agree” level. The proportion sees a 51.4% percentage increase compared to 2022.

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Dissatisfaction (Disagree and Strongly disagree combined) proportion decreased 27% compared to 2022.

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Satisfaction & Importance: 2023 vs 2022

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Academics is still the most important aspect for students, while Library services is the most satisfactory.

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Quadrant I: (to be maintained)

• Academics, Professional development

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Quadrant II: (high priority)

• Mental health, Physical health, Student life and academic advising

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Quadrant III: (to be improved)

• Career Placement Team, Housing, Funding opportunities

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Quadrant IV: (low priority)

• Social Life, Technology services and support, Library, and Intercampus shuttle / Via services

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Satisfaction & Importance 2023 vs 2022

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Progression are made in areas that students think are important.

For Academics, both Satisfaction and Importance level increased among students in 2023.

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A similar pattern is observed in Funding opportunities and Mental Health.

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Housing becomes the least satisfied sub-category, while also becoming more important.

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Overall Satisfaction by Degree

M.S./Ph.D. students are the most satisfied, and Ph.D. students are the least.

29% of M.S./Ph.D. students are more satisfied with their overall experience compared to M.S. and Ph.D. students.

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Dissatisfaction rates are low across all three degrees (no more than 10%).

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Satisfaction by Gender

Non-binary students reported significantly higher dissatisfaction levels (29% vs 8%).

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Male and Female students’ overall results are similar, with Male students being slightly more satisfied.

Non-binary students’ dissatisfaction rate is significantly higher than male or female students.

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Satisfaction by Department Breakdown

Departments with highest M.S. students satisfaction rates:

• Earth and Environmental Engineering (95%)
• Mechanical Engineering (91%)
• MS in Data Science (83%)

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Departments with highest M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students satisfaction rates:

• Chemical Engineering (89%)
• Mechanical Engineering (86%)
• Computer Science (78%)

In APAM, CHEME and CS, M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students are more satisfied than M.S. students.

Overview

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Q&A

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Academics

Degree Programs

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Academic Importance vs. Satisfaction By Department

Both academic satisfaction and importance levels increased for most departments.

Earth and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments saw a surge in both academic satisfaction level and importance levels.

8 out of 10 departments’/programs’ academic satisfaction levels and importance levels increase.

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Importance of Academic Features

Instruction and course content are the most important academic features for students.

Instruction and course content are perceived the most important academic features among student from all three programs.

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Overall ranking

1. Course content (4.42)
2. Instruction (4.40)
3. Course Delivery Method (4.11)
4. Degree requirements (3.98)
5. Supplementary educational
6. Tools (3.97)

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Satisfaction with Program Resources

The distribution of department of our response represent the whole student base well.

PDL Program, Department administration and Departmental advisors are students’ most familiar and satisfied program resources.

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38% of the students are unaware of Ombuds Office.

27% are unaware of Center for Teaching and Learning.

CTL awareness Breakdown

Unaware rate

• Students have TAed before (22.2%)
• Students who haven’t TAed before (31.6%)

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• M.S. students (27.6%)
• M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. (26.3%)

Program:

TAed before:

Students who are unaware of CTL are mostly students who haven’t TAed before

GCP awareness Breakdown

More M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students are unaware of Graduate Career Placement resources.

Unaware rates

• M.S. students (9.48%)
• M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students (28.7%)

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Satisfaction with Program Resources By Degree

The overall difference between three programs is little.

M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. students are more satisfied with their Departmental advisors.

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M.S. students are more satisfied with the PDL program.

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Satisfaction with Teaching Quality By Department

No department shows a significant lack of teaching quality.

Top 4 departments by teaching quality:

1. Earth and Environmental Engineering (78%)
2. Chemical Engineering (71%)
3. Computer Science (70%)
4. Mechanical Engineering (69%)

I am satisfied with the instructor’s teaching quality in…

Satisfaction with Classes and Academics By Department

Highest satisfaction rate according to:�

• Availability of courses to satisfy degree requirements
• Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (78%)
• Chemical Engineering (73%)
• MS in Data Science (72%)

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• Degree requirements allowing taking enough electives
• Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (76%)
• Chemical Engineering (71%)
• Electrical Engineering (71%)
• Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (71%)

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• Wide selection of elective courses
• Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (80%)
• Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (76%)
• Chemical Engineering (68%)

The availability of courses to satisfy degree requirements was satisfactory

My degree requirements allowed me to take enough elective courses to tailor my education

There was a wide selection of elective courses available

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Satisfaction with Canvas Features

Students are the least satisfied with chat and discussion page features of Canvas.

Most satisfied:

• Assignment submission (88%)
• Access to course materials (87%)
• Course announcement (83%)

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Most dissatisfied

• Chat (18%, and 15% are unaware)
• Education Discussion pages (12%, and 10% are unaware)

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Feedback about Canvas

• “Assignment submission can be made better.”
• “I think we should remove the 24 hours time limit/Duo thing (change it to a week or two weeks)”
• “I think that it provides so many different tools to communicate with each other that at some point it is already too much. So it would be better to only work with one communication.”

How do the comments sound overall?

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Satisfaction with SSOL Features

No SSOL feature has high dissatisfaction rate. Students are unaware of many features.

Most satisfied features:

• Course registration (72%)
• Accounts and billing (71%)
• Student schedule (65%)
• Transcript Request (65%)

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Most dissatisfied feature:

• Waitlist (19%)

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Students are unaware of:

• Flex account and dining dollar (24%)
• Deactivation or lost or stolen Columbia ID (23%)
• Degree audit report (19%)

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Feedback about SSOL

Registration

• “Registration happens in SSOL but there is very little course information there. Schedule planning happens in Vergil but that also is missing most course descriptions. “

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Interface

• “Great system, maybe could use some aesthetic/visual updates.”

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Billing

• “I think it would be nicer to NOT have to download a pdf to see the account summary for my bills in SSOL. Displaying it right away would be better. “
• “Billing is confusing when rent and tuition are being lumped together, it is not clear what the department needs to pay and what I need to pay.”

How do the comments sound overall?

Academics

Degree Programs��Q&A

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Academics

Academic Integrity

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When are Students Taught about the Code of Honor?

• Introduced to incoming students at Orientation
• All students required to complete Academic Integrity Module online

Code of Honor

Passed in 2014 by the Committee on Instruction, EGSC and ESC:

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“We, the engineering graduate students of Columbia University, pledge to uphold the values of integrity, honesty, and dignity in the pursuit of common scholastic goals, both at Columbia and beyond.”

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Perception of Academic Integrity Policies

Policies are clearly communicated

Policies are enforced

Policies are followed by peers

Students believe that Academic Integrity policies are better enforced and followed relative to past years

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Academic Integrity Violations

Did not report

70.6%

*compared to 64% in 2022.

Reported to TA

13.5%

Reported to both

TA and Instructor

4.0%

Reported to Instructor/Professor

10.7%

Reported to the Office of Engineering Student Affairs

1.2%

27.3% students became aware of an academic integrity violation.

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• “Didn't have enough evidence.”
• “Didn’t wanna get involved.”
• “I do not feel it to be appropriate to reach out directly to the TA or Professor.”
• “I was afraid of potential repercussions on my F-1 visa status.”

Academic Integrity Violations

70% students that became aware of an academic integrity violation did not report them. Why?

Thought the violation was not severe

15.0%

Other

3.0%

Didn’t want to report friend

19.7%

Didn’t want to report classmate

13.2%

Uncertain of confidentiality

13.9%

Uncomfortable approaching authority

17.7%

Did not know how to report the violation

17.5%

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Academic Integrity Violations

70% of 419 TAs became aware of academic integrity violations.

How were the violations handled?

What are reasons that students might violate policies?

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Academic Integrity Comments

• “In-class exams where students place phones in a box beforehand works well. ”
• “I informed my TA and instructor about a time I saw students blatantly cheating on an exam and they did nothing. ”
• “Get people to sign academic integrity policies every time they do homework/test.”
• “Encourage professors to assign group work, which eliminates the benefit of some people who are willing to cheat and work together even when it's not allowed.”
• “Maybe for a course with heavy workload it would be adequate to provide additional teaching support to prevent any violations.”
• “Graders evaluating assignments should be more stricter.”
• “The instructors make the punishments clear at the beginning of the course, and they remind the class before exams.”

Academics

Academic Integrity��Q&A

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Student Life

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Satisfaction with EGSC and ESA Events

Most satisfied EGSC & ESA events:

• Off-campus socials (76%)
• Performance arts (75%)
• On-campus gathering (70%)
• Organized sporting activities (70%)

Majority of students enjoy the student life events hosted by EGSC and ESA.

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Satisfaction with Community Building Efforts

Students are generally satisfied with the number of social events and programs offered by SEAS. However, the capacity and pricing of tickets for these events were reported to be sources of dissatisfaction among students.

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Event Promotions

Students primarily keep up with events from ESA emails, followed by EGSC Newsletter.

Twitter feed

0.90%

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Student Life - Feedback

Social events:

• “Always happy to have even more of them!”
• “The events have been very fun! Overall I am pleased. Would be nice to see additional events for just PhD students to meet.”
• “Some EGSC events sell out way too fast. I wish there was a way to prioritize giving tickets to students who have not attended any event so far.”
• “More social events that are cross-departmental.”

Orientation:

• “More events (e.g., dinners, socials, ice-skating, etc.) to get to know others in the same program.”
• “Cut all-SEAS orientation down to 20 minutes except resource specific stuff, it was a big waste of time.”
• “More team-building and interactive sessions, especially ones to connect with students. Maybe breakout sessions.”
• “Help introduce students to finding housing in NYC (before orientation).”
• “More social events outside of the day as students don't have class rather than having the department wide social events once classes start ex. Carl[e]ton commons.”

Student Life

​

Q&A

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

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SEAS’s DEI initiative

In the Summer of 2021, SEAS released a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission Report, which worked to identify challenges and opportunities in DEI. Commission members advocated for strengthening the pipeline for student and faculty recruitment, prioritizing a welcoming culture and climate, particularly for women, Underrepresented Minorities(URM’s), and those from diverse cultures, as well as integrating DEI into research, teaching, and innovation.

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An Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Dean Shavonna Hinton), was hired to lead the implementation of action plan objectives through the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

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This Office was established with a mission to work with our stakeholders to promote a culture where members of the Columbia Engineering community, past and present, feel empowered to exist as they are by cultivating an environment where all perspectives and identities are championed.

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Familiarity with SEAS’s DEI initiatve

Under-Represented Minority (URM) students represent 5.2% of all students in our survey.

For all students:

• >50% are unfamiliar or slightly familiar

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• <25% are extremely or very familiar

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Satisfaction with progression towards SEAS’s DEI goals breakdown

By gender

By ethnicity

Non-binary and URM respondents are the least satisfied with progress on SEAS’s DEI goals.

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Satisfaction with efforts made breakdown

Non-binary, and Black or African-American respondents are least satisfied with DEI efforts.

By gender

By ethnicity

50

I feel …

Non-binary, and Black or African-American respondents felt least comfortable, valued, and welcomed

By gender

By ethnicity

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

​

Q&A

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Professional�Development and Leadership

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PDL Participation

Yes

76.1%

No

23.9%

Over 75% of respondents have attended the PDL Program. Majority of the participants were M.S. students.

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PDL Participation by Degree

M.S.

Ph.D.

M.S./Ph.D.

Yes

97.5%

No

2.5%

Yes

58.3%

No

41.7%

No

46.7%

Yes

53.3%

>97% M.S. students participated in PDL, compared to 53.3% M.S./Ph.D., and 58.3% Ph.D. students.

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PDL Module Satisfaction

M.S. students have overall higher satisfaction rate on the Elective Modules.

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PDL Feedback

• “I wish there were a wider selection of technical PDL sessions, such as those focused on improving coding skills or certain skillsets like website building or data analysis that are important but aren't quite covered in classes.”

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• “I wish there was a PDL session on job opportunities in engineering in NYC specifically. Particularly for technical roles that aren't as obvious (i.e. not finance or banking).”

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• “I have often missed PDL sessions that I am interested in due to time conflicts, but there are many interesting sessions that suffice.”

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• “The PDL class selection/ registration system (app) was hard to use.”

How do the comments sound overall?

Professional�Development and Leadership

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Q&A

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Career Placement & Networking

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Skills Developed at SEAS

Most students agreed on developing:

• Proficiency and expertise in my field (83%)
• Keeping up with latest advances in my field (75%)
• Technical writing skills (72%)
• Facilitating conversations and discussions (71%)
• Presentation skills (71%)

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Least agreed on:

• Non-technical writing skills (54%)
• Interacting with Industry professionals (56%)

Most student feel they developed both proficiency and expertise in their field.

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Student Job Search

70% of the student leveraged personal contacts to aid their job search, significantly more than all other resources.

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Student Job Search Graduate Career Placement

Most helpful:

• Career Fairs (47%)
• Employer Expo (45%)
• VMock (42%)
• Career Placement Officers (41%)

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Student Job Search - Outcomes

72.3% of respondents were looking for a job/internship or plan to look for one in the near future.

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Among these, 32% have secured an offer.

51% of these students found the role through LinkedIn or the company’s website.

Where did they find out about the role?

Personal contacts

and/or friends

18.0%

Linkedin

18.0%

Company website

32.7%

Career fairs &

Employer Expos

6.1%

Advisor

6.5%

Other

18.7%

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Student Job Search

Other than traditional ways, students also found jobs through…

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• Conference connections
• Capstone project
• Contacted by the company
• Undergraduate college
• Return offer
• Independent research

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Future Alumni Involvement

Strongly Agree

38.9%

Somewhat Agree

30%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

18.5%

Are students willing to participate in online or in-person networking events after graduation? If not, why?

Disagree

12.5%

Relocation

25.4%

Other

5.1%

Events are Unappealing

51.7%

Unaware of Opportunities

17.8%

Why?

65

Career Placement & Networking - Feedback

• “They should have both alums who are working in industry for very long period as well who graduated recently to give us idea about the whole situation.”
• “The marketing of events is very shady and it serves only a few. ”
• “More alumni networking events should be done in each department.”
• “It would be great to hold more alumni networking events on the same major so that Students can get more advice on career.”
• “There needs to be more than a weeks notice for students so they can adjust their schedules and attend as many as possible.”
• “I would like more frequent alumni networking events for more periodic introduction.”
• “Similarly alumni events don't usually have many people that are in my desired field.”

Career Placement & Networking

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Q&A

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Health & Safety

68

Safety on Campus

Strongly Agree

54.8%

Somewhat Agree

32.9%

Neither Agree

nor Disagree

8.8%

Somewhat Disagree

3.1%

Strongly Disagree

0.4%

How is it compared to last year?

Students feel safer on campus this year compared to 2022.

69

Health Services

30% students are unaware of Alice! services; 34% students find the new Engineering Wellness service satisfactory.

70

Use of Counseling and Psychological Services

Yes

24.7%

No

75.3%

Unaware of confidentiality

1.80%

71

Health Services - Feedback

Insurance:

• “Would really love dental insurance - had a bad toothache for a week but didn't go check it out.”
• “The health insurance is pretty good, the dental insurance is awful for the price. It’s cheaper for me to pay out of pocket when I visit my family than it is for the Columbia plan.”
• “The health insurance is pretty good, the dental insurance is awful for the price. It’s cheaper for me to pay out of pocket when I visit my family than it is for the Columbia plan.”

Health Services:

• “Currently CPS only offers treatment/visits on a regular basis if you have a diagnosis / it's determined that you require treatment. It would be nice if they had the ability to offer visits on a regular basis for anyone that wants that. I believe this is offered at other institutions”
• “Tried to schedule an appointment online one time but I couldn't figure it out on the health portal so I didn't have an appointment.”
• “The referral program needs to be improved. It's a frustrating middle man for getting healthcare.”
• “Please allow us to have physician and yearly physical.”

Health & Safety

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Q&A

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Facilities

74

Library Use

77% of all students use libraries at least once a week.

Most used libraries:

1. Butler Library,
2. Science and Engineering Library
3. Business and Economics Library

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Library Use breakdown

On average students use libraries 3.87 times per week and go to 2.44 different libraries.

76

NoCo Library – resources

Most helpful resources are individual and group study spaces, printing and scanning facilities, and convenient hours of operation.

77

Library Feedback

Space

• “Wish there was more group study space and MUCH better communication about where the group study spaces are”

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Time

• “Would be nice if science and engineering library was also 24/7.”
• “Libraries should be kept open 24 hours.”

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Facilities

• “The outlets in the science and engineering library are poorly designed for laptop chargers and the wifi in Uris is often bad”
• “More tables and sitting spaces please!! More working outlets for charging devices!!”

How do the comments sound overall?

78

Facilities Satisfaction

Most satisfied facilities:

• Cleanliness of classroom (82%)
• Coverage of WIFI in Mudd and CEPSR (82%)
• Speed of wireless internet (79%)

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Most dissatisfied facilities:

• University Gym (34%)
• Availability of �group study space (23%)
• Availability of reservable �student group space (23%)
• Elevators in Mudd (21%)

Most facilities have satisfaction rates >65%.

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Facilities Satisfaction (continued)

Facilities

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Q&A

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Housing

82

Residence Location

64.5% of students live Off-Campus

35.5% of students live in Columbia Residential Housing

M.S.

52.7%

M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D.

47.3%

M.S.

78.7%

M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D.

21.3%

83

Columbia Residential Satisfaction

56.2% of M.S. students think Columbia Residential was helpful in resolving housing issues.

62.4% of Ph.D. and M.S./Ph.D. students think Columbia Residential was helpful in resolving housing issue.

Strongly Agree

32.7%

Somewhat Agree

23.6%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

10.9%

Somewhat Disagree

14.5%

Strongly Disagree

14.5%

Never faced

an issue

3.6%

Strongly Agree

22.3%

Somewhat Agree

38.7%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

11.3%

Somewhat Disagree

10.5%

Strongly Disagree

8.4%

Never faced an issue

8.8%

84

Residential Management Satisfaction

35.5% of students live in Columbia Residential Housing.

Most satisfied:

• Building super (77%)
• Building maintenance (68%)
• Internet (64%)

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Most dissatisfied:

2. Rent (36%)
3. Laundry service (35%)
4. Internet (21%)

85

Off-Campus Housing Assistance (OCHA)

Among the 47.8% of students who have used OCHA service, 35% of students agreed it was helpful.

86

Housing Comments

Off-Campus Housing

• “There could be more resources regarding off-campus housing, specifically about navigating brokers and apartment rentals.”
• “Students who live away from campus should be provided with free subway access.”

On-Campus Columbia Housing

• “The housing selection process is pretty stressful and long, especially for couples' housing.”
• “Housing is great! It is not very clean though, and it used to be sooo clean when I moved in though (Hugo was our amazing cleaner, but I guess they promoted him and he’s no longer here).”

How do the comments sound overall?

Positive

9%

Housing

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Q&A

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Q&A with Panelists