The 2020 rollout of NSSE's Annual Results,  Engagement Insights—Survey Findings on the Quality of Undergraduate Education is complete. Between November 2020 and March 2021, we presented five data-informed treatments of important topics for higher education. In addition to new findings, we featured related webinars (recorded versions available), public Tableau dashboards, examples of institutional use, suggestions for institutional assessment, faculty insights, and more.

The five stories are briefly described as follows:

• Building a Sense of Community for All examined the relationships between students’ sense of belonging (three new items on the 2020 survey) with engagement, perceived gains, and persistence, and also looked at patterns related to selected student characteristics.
• More than ever, students need academic advisors who actively listen, respect identities and cultures, and care for their well-being. In The LRCs of Advising—Listening, Respecting, and Caring we examine such perceptions of advising with students’ sense of belonging, intentions to persist, and other outcomes.
• High-impact practices continue to be a priority for colleges and universities to boost student outcomes. In High-Impact Practices: Interrogating Quality and Equity we share new findings from 2020, including results from the faculty survey and from an exploration of the quality of HIPs from an equity lens.
• Identifying the Trust Gaps Among Students investigated how student trust in institutions, their college or university, media, others, and civil society varies across groups. Trust in American institutions has been declining over time and higher education is not exempt from this trend.
• In Entering NSSE’s Third Decade: Retrospective and Prospective we reflect on 20 years of NSSE accomplishments and lessons about institutional assessment, and look forward to new approaches in the coming decade.

You can also browse archived Annual Reports.

As always, we encourage you to share these findings and resources with colleagues who can put them to good use.