The University of California Office of the President has released its first ever UC Accountability Report, which assesses factors such as undergraduate affordability, campus rankings and sustainability.
The report compiles statistics from undergraduate graduation rates to the high school GPAs of entering freshmen, on both a system-wide and individual campus basis, as well as comparisons with rates from other U.S. colleges.
It is the first of its kind in the UC system in its comprehensive scale and accessibility to the public, said Leslie Sepuka, UCOP spokeswoman.
UC President Mark Yudof first announced the creation of this report after entering his post last year, she added.
“The data (in this report) will inform the university’s strategic planning, budgeting and performance management, as well as help the governing Board of Regents identify the most important policy issues facing UC,” Sepuka said.
Since Yudof’s announcement of the creation of the report, the public has sent in feedback on areas it wants to know more about in the UC system, she added.
Feedback for the finished report can also be made online at the UCOP Web site.
The report shows that UCLA has higher graduation rates than comparable institutions like the University of Illinois and every University of California except UC Berkeley, but UCLA does not do as well as private institutions like Stanford and Harvard.
UCLA has also shown little change in the ethnic and racial makeup of the campus since 2000.
The report also points out that UCLA has remained about 25th in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings.
Furthermore, there have been improvements in the number of graduating students, those who graduate in shorter periods of time and incoming freshmen graduating with higher high school GPAs.
The report also discusses possible factors for these improvements.
“We do not have definitive answers, but there are a number of factors probably contributing to this trend: greater student selectivity, campus programs that are designed to encourage degree completion and greater use of summer sessions,” Sepuka said.
Yudof said in an online statement that the report provided an “honest answer” on how the UC system was functioning.
Cinthia Flores, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said the report was a “step in the right direction” and a “thorough picture of the state of the university,” but that more can be done.
“The report only provides stakeholders with a limited and passive form of engagement. Stakeholders should be able to sit at the table when important discussions regarding the UC system are taking place,” Flores said. “It is not enough to produce a document narrating the current state of the UC system because sometimes the numbers, charts and graphs on paper don’t translate the complete accomplishments of the university.”
Flores added that the report should incorporate the opinions and experiences of students, faculty, staff and administration.
The report is expected to be published and updated annually and is available at <a href=”http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/accountability/”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/accountability/</a>