National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

The NSSE is a nationally standardized assessment instrument that is administered to first-year students and graduating seniors. A basic assumption that motivates this survey is that the more students are engaged, the better their academic outcomes, including persistence and graduation. There are five NSSE Benchmarks that purport to measure different aspects of student engagement to provide information to institutions about students' self-reported satisfaction and engagement. Institutions that administer the NSSE on their campus can compare their performance to these benchmarks.

You can learn more about the the NSSE here.

You can learn about the student experience at DU provided by the 510 DU students who completed the 2012 NSSE here.

You can also learn more about student engagement, the NSSE Benchmarks, and the results from institutions that participate by exploring the USA today and NSSE initiative here.

DU's General Education: Common Curriculum

The undergraduate common curriculum was implemented in Fall 2010 after a vote of approval by the faculty. A unique feature of the common curriculum is that all requirements are driven by a set of student learning outcomes.

The Higher Learning Commission, DU's regional accrediting body, has requested a follow-up report of the assessment of the common curriculum. The development of these assessment processes is ongoing.

Specific information regarding the assessment of the common curriculum will be made available in the near future.

For a general overview of this feature of the undergraduate academic experience, please see the article, New Common Curriculum Emphasizes Interdisciplinary Learning, in the University of Denver Magazine.

For more information regarding DU's general education requirements, please see the following information about the Common Curriculum