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Graduate Student Survey

[Frequently Asked Questions | Survey Results]

What is the Graduate Student Survey?

The Graduate Student Survey provides graduate students with a unique formal opportunity to provide feedback on your graduate program, your financial support, the campus climate for diversity, your experiences as a TA or GSI, and your satisfaction with campus services. The survey was first held in 2007.

What Results Did the 2021 Graduate Student Survey Show?

Top Features of Future Jobs (work-life balance 83%, Intellectual challenge 81%, job security 80%, benefits 77%)

Career Advice from Primary Advisor (Students reported hearing more information from their advisors about jobs within academia than outside academia)

Housing Insecurity (Some students in all divisions moved in the last 12 months because of financial reasons, especially in the Humanities)

Want to learn more? Read the reports on the Graduate Student Survey results page.

Ways Results Are Used to Improve the Graduate Student Experience

Detailed specific reports of results for academic departments - to improve academic training, program advising, professional development opportunities.
Reports for academic divisions - to inform how departments throughout each division are doing overall
Topic-specific reports on matters of campus-wide importance - including financial support and situation, teaching preparation, and campus services. These reports are available below and are shared throughout campus.
Open-ended questions in the survey - allow opportunities to provide comments and suggestions. Deidentified comments are used frequently in reports for each graduate program to communicate suggestions to department faculty and division leaders. Deidentified comments are also used to provide suggestions to units providing student services.

Prize Drawings

Drawings for many prizes will be held during the survey and at the close of the survey.

Privacy

Responses are maintained securely and confidentially. The Institutional Research, Assessment, and Policy Studies office at UC Santa Cruz does not share individual-level survey data with anyone. Please see the campus surveys privacy and confidentiality page for additional information.

For More Information

If you have questions, please write to surveys@ucsc.edu. Please also see the Graduate Student Survey Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

The 2023 Graduate Student Survey is sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Division of Graduate Studies and by Institutional Research, Assessment, and Policy Studies. The survey will open in Spring quarter 2023, and will close during the Summer session. Since 2021, the UC Santa Cruz survey has been part of a systemwide survey titled the University of California Graduate Student Experience Survey (UCGSES).

The mission of Graduate Studies is to attract, recruit and retain an outstanding cohort of diverse graduate students, while providing the highest quality educational experience possible as we support them towards their graduation and prepare them for successful careers.

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Institutional Research, Assessment, and Policy Studies (IRAPS) is the primary office for the administration and analysis of campus-wide student surveys.