All first-year students and seniors across the Washington State University system will be asked to take the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) starting March 3 to provide information that will measure student experience and inform retention efforts at the institution.
The two-month NSSE campaign is available to students in two ways. Emails from President Schulz will be sent directly to students, with deliveries set for March 3, 20, and 26 as well as April 1 and 7. Once a student has completed the survey, they will not receive future mailings. They can also access the survey through a tile in the myWSU portal and through individual Canvas links. The survey will remain open into May but students completing it by April 19 will be entered into campus gift card drawings.
“We count on our faculty and staff to help inform first-year and senior students about the survey and to let them know about its importance to future students and WSU, its colleges, campuses, and departments,” said William B. Davis, vice provost for academic engagement and student achievement, who is leading the effort.
We count on our faculty and staff to help inform first-year and senior students about the survey and to let them know about its importance to future students and WSU, its colleges, campuses, and departments.
William B. Davis, vice provost for academic engagement and student achievement
Washington State University
Access to promotional materials is available online. In addition to direct encouragement from faculty in classes, for example, students on every campus will be reminded of the survey opportunity through flyers, digital signage, newsletters, and social media.
“We hope every first-year and senior student takes this brief survey because their responses inform us about their needs and help us consider solutions to issues that are identified,” Davis added.
The survey is administered by Indiana University’s School of Education, where it started two decades ago. WSU students have taken the survey since 2008; WSU data from those prior surveys is available online.
This year’s results provided by NSSE in late summer will show student responses specific to WSU as well as comparisons to aggregated student responses from hundreds of other institutions nationwide.
WSU carefully evaluates the results, Davis said. Survey findings over the years have prompted WSU to, for example, consider support for undergraduate research, internships, and study abroad experiences.
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed important recoveries in student engagement and their experiences with WSU faculty, staff, and peers,” he said. “We also continuously monitor student engagement in high-impact practices since these are foundational experiences that lead to higher levels of student engagement and persistence to graduation.” High-impact activities measured by the NSSE survey include such things as service-learning, research with faculty, internships, student abroad, and capstone experiences.
Faculty, staff, and technology experts volunteer on a NSSE committee that has spent months preparing for the 2025 survey rollout. In addition to broad questions, WSU has requested modules specific to first-year and senior students’ mental health and well-being, and for the third survey in a row also about inclusiveness and engagement with diversity.
“As the WSU study body diversifies, the experience of students in these areas is critical to understand,” Davis said. “Survey results will provide data that will allow us to track long-term trends and help understand our successes and challenges in this important area.”
WSU’s NSSE website provides additional information about the survey and resources.
