Via EMU’s Eastern Echo (though through the tweet of one of my colleagues): “EMU enrollment up 4.26 percent.” It’s a short article that basically says “hey, enrollment is up 4.26 percent,” so feel free to read the whole piece there.
Obviously, this is good news overall, especially given that the trends have been pointing in the other direction off and on in recent years.
Update:
In the comments below, the Echo’s Danny Hopkins posted this link to an update in the story. Here’s the new opening paragraphs:
The chairman of Eastern Michigan University’s board of regents said that Tuesday marked some of the most encouraging news he had heard since he joined the board five years ago.
“We’ve worked very hard to establish relevance,” Chairman Roy Wilbanks said, referring to administration at EMU. “I think we’re starting to see the fruits of our labor.”
I suppose part of this is based on who the reporters talked to and everything, but just who exactly is the “we” here? It seems to me that it’s more than the BoR and the suits who make EMU “relevant,” certainly for students who never interact with the board or the administration.
Also, annarbor.com has a story on EMU’s enrollment, though in snooty Ann Arbor fashion, they put a rather different spin on it in the headline: “Eastern Michigan University enrollment is up, but the graduation rate is low.”
Update #2:
The Kalamazoo Gazette (via mlive) is reporting “Student numbers down at WMU.” It would seem that WMU’s losses are our gains, at least to an extent.
Here’s the updated story: http://easternecho.com/index.php/article/2009/09/emu_enrollment_jumps_4_percent
Surely our new(est) Minister of Propaganda will react quickly to this latest slur from the former Ann Arbor News.
With all due respect to Sitedad and George, I don’t think that there’s anything unfair about a news organization reporting the EMU 6 year graduation rate being what it is: Under 40%. That’s nothing EMU can brag about, and lots of other schools are in the same low performing range as us. But also lots of other schools do much better than EMU; EMU can improve. That we’re now at the bottom end in 6 year graduation rates is genuinely newsworthy. College graduation rates are arguably the best measure of a university’s contributions and achievements.
Some of us EMU reformers have for years have tried to get EMU officials to pay attention to this problem, substantively, and we and other critics have even predicted that public attention will turn to this critical metric of achievement. The whole K-12 education realm has been driven by demands for more accountability, and that this would come to the higher education level as well has been inevitable and widely expected.
And this fall, much public attention is focused on this issue of graduation rates, both in the media and on the EMU campus. I commend Regents Parker and Sidlik, and many colleagues on the faculty and in the administration, for focusing on this area of needed improvement. These two Regents have been pushing the issue for some months now, which is great.
In years past, I discussed these issues with three prior EMU presidents and a couple VPs, and frankly they all did more to hide the problem than to address it. These are facts not to be proud of, but ones that need acknowledging as we move forward to solve the problem. And, oh, what a refreshing set of changes we’ve had at the top – EMU now has leaders who want to confront and solve this problem. Bravo!
EMU can and I think will make improvement in our student graduation rate.
I do have one quibble with this AA.com story, which states “According to data from College Results Online, run by non-profit organization The Education Trust, 39 percent of students entering Eastern Michigan University will earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.” This sentence is false: The College Results Online source reports on six year graduation rates, based on data from a six year period. It’s a very good source, run by a great group, the Education Trust; but it’s a picture of past performance, not a projection of future performance.
I am confident that EMU can and will increase our graduation rate. Just think of all the proven interventions that EMU has not undertaken, or hasn’t adequately staffed or funded, of the data sets EMU hasn’t properly managed in the past, and then you should realize there’s quick progress that can be expected with adequate management. Then think of the innovative academic skills-building and social-bonds creating First Year Seminar programs so many other schools have, and that EMU hasn’t ever pursued, and it should be clear that this great institution, with its capable faculty and staff, can raise our students’ graduation rates in the next six year period by making the most desired kinds of activities for Freshmen into elements of the First Year experience deliberately designed into the structure of what our First Year students are required to take. EMU has a very good first year writing program – but not much more than that exists here that is designed for and required for all freshmen and women. We have one pillar of a good First Year Program, now we need to build the other two.
Yes, that’d require change. Change is inevitable. Will they be changes we want and design in ways to promote student success, or will change be the result of drift and inertia, as it has been for a decade?
I don’t disagree that retention is an issue and will continue to be an issue, but I just don’t necessarily see it as connected to the story as annarbor.com thinks– or rather, it didn’t merit a place in a headline. I’m exaggerating a bit in saying this, but it’s a little like having a headline like “EMU Football team rebuilding, still loses badly to U of M.” Doesn’t that last phrase basically say “yeah, but they still suck?”
W
What has always interested me is not the low rate of graduation, but what causes it. I found the fact that Wayne State has a lower graduation rate – 32% puzzeling. Wayne State is one the Big 3 research institutions in our State. Is it the fact that our students are older, work more while going to school? What about transfer students? Do they count toward graduation rates? Does a high rate of transfers into EMU hurt the graduation rate?
I am no expert on this, but a colleague of my department is, and from what I can glean from him on this, all of the issues you raise here factor into the problematic graduation rates: transfer students, working students, older ones, more part-time, etc., etc., not to mention that a lot of our students are coming from some problematic financial backgrounds. A lot of these sorts of issues are probably shared by students at Wayne State, actually.
In my comment, above, from this morning, I wrote what is no doubt the worst sentence I ever wrote, and I apologize for it….
“Then think of the innovative academic skills-building and social-bonds creating First Year Seminar programs so many other schools have, and that EMU hasn’t ever pursued, and it should be clear that this great institution, with its capable faculty and staff, can raise our students’ graduation rates in the next six year period by making the most desired kinds of activities for Freshmen into elements of the First Year experience deliberately designed into the structure of what our First Year students are required to take.”
I hang my head in shame, and seek to enroll in the First Year Writing program. Not sure I’m eligible, but that sentence suggests I need help…..Help!