1. Ithaka S+R Graduate Student Survey
Jen-chien Yu, Kelli Trei, Jamie Carlstone

2. Brief History Conducted from March 16 to April 2, 2016
Led by the University Library (Lisa Hinchliffe) and the Graduate College.
10,918 Illinois graduate students and professional students were invited to participate.
1,388 completed survey: (Overall Response Rate 13%)
Sciences/STEM module completion: 749 (52%)
International Student module completion: 492 (38%)
Report [
Ithaka Graduate Student Survey Analysis group started in spring 2017
Brief History

3. Issues & Challenges Survey Design Look beyond the demographics
Too long
Modules and skip logic
Questions not well tested
Look beyond the demographics
Meaningful insights
Issues & Challenges

4. 39% state that library helps them develop research skills (CA12)
46% have attended library instructions (ROL17)
29% have been directed by a faculty to consult with a librarian (RP3)
61% identify the main responsibility of the library should be supporting student learning by helping students to find/access/use resources (CA15)
63% strongly oppose courses from their own degree programs to be taught full online (CA17)
Key Findings

5. Buyer, Repository, Learning Facilitator and Research Skill Teacher

6. Buyer, Repository, Learning Facilitator and Research Skill Teacher

7. 52% of students that took the survey indicated they were working towards a stem degree (S1)
Of those 75% are a member of a laboratory or research group (S2)
In the lab (S3):
87% state they are conducting independent experiments or research
61% state they are responsible for managing, organizing, updating, or analyzing data or datasets
41% state they are responsible for keeping up-to-date with the academic literature on behalf of the lab or research group
STEM Key Findings

8. What are the most useful ways to keep up with current literature or research (S9) ?
48% say new work by key scholars in their field
45% say conference or workshops
45% say materials suggested by other scholars, scientists, or researchers
42% say new issues of top journals in field
STEM Key Findings

9. STEM Key Findings How do they manage data (S11) ?
85% state they use their own computer hard-drive
60% use a web-based tool such as Box/Google Drive etc.
28% use institutional servers
Less than 10% report using institutional repositories
STEM Key Findings

10. International Students Key Findings
There were 4,526 total graduate students from foreign countries last spring (46% of all graduate students).
Out of those who responded to the survey question, “Are you an international student or foreign national,” 38% (492) responded “yes,” so the survey isn’t quite representative of international students. There was also a large portion of respondents that didn’t answer this question at all (100+ participants) (D14).
International Students Key Findings

11. International Students Key Findings
Overall, international students’ satisfaction with the University is comparable to non-international students. 80% give positive ratings to their Illinois experience so far (HE16)
75% state that they feel welcome in the library (IS11)
Where we do see statistical significant differences:
Library as “Buyer”: 58% (intl.) vs. 83% (non-intl.) (ROL2)
“Go inside the library”: 34% (intl.) vs. 15% (non-intl.) (ROL12)
GPA is important: 83% (intl.) vs. 67% (non-intl.) (HE7)
International Students Key Findings

12. Next Steps Summary Report
Tableau Dashboards [ Dashboard1]
Suggestions?
Next Steps