On the surface, the University of California accountability report reads like any dense statistical literature.
But hidden in 211 pages of bar graphs is one of the most rigorous comparisons between the 10 UC campuses and other elite public and private universities.
The report was UC President Mark Yudof’s first attempt to fulfill his promise of transparency within the UC system.
This policy stands in direct contrast to that of former president Mark Dynes, who resisted such attempts. Though the data had long been available, this is the first time the information has been synthesized into a comprehensive study.
Pending public feedback, a final draft will be issued next spring.
“An accountability framework is critical for transparency. It’s critical for performance measurement, and it’s important for the personal accountability of the leaders of the institution,” Yudof said in a UC Board of Regents meeting last week. “It’s going to take us time to get it exactly right, but we’re working full-speed ahead on this priority.”
Though the report findings are hardly news, UCLA students have a lot to brag about.
Pitted against Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Yale, UCLA is comparable or higher in first-year retention and female enrollment for less than half the cost of attendance. And together with Berkeley, UCLA surpasses all other UCs in graduation rates, freshman SAT scores, average GPAs and nearly every other metric.
However, Vice Provost Daniel Greenstein warned against reading too far into the numbers.
“Wherever possible, bring as much context as you can to bear on the interpretation of any measure, and don’t read too much about the university into any single measure,” Greenstein said in a press release.
“I would warn against trying to identify UC’s successes and failures in the data that compare UC campuses with one another and with other research universities. An institution’s progress can only truly be measured in light of its own goals.”
The report also compared UC campuses to prestigious state universities of Michigan, Virginia, New York and Illinois.
Perhaps most striking is how UC has remained competitive while enrolling a considerably greater proportion of low-income students: 28 percent, compared to an average of 19 percent for the other four.
However, one area in which the UC has been lagging is graduation rate.
Nearly one in five freshmen in 1999 stayed past 2005, their sixth year. In the same time, Harvard cleared all but 2 percent of its class.
A combination of extended years in college and difficulty paying for it can prove to be a financial drain. Perhaps not surprisingly, UC graduates are saddled with debt on par with the four private schools measured, despite drastically lower tuition.
Third-year communications student Ben Yu feels the financial aid system emphasizes a quick graduation over learning for its own sake.
“The interest (on my loans) is accruing as I’m in school,” Yu said. “Like, I want to take that extra class or make that extra connection, but I feel like I can’t linger. There’s this pressure I feel to get out within a certain time.”