Undergraduates urged to complete survey

March 11, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida undergraduate students who complete an online survey between Wednesday and July 20 will have a chance to win iPad prize packs, Beats Solo headphone prize packs, and free student memberships to the Harn Museum of Art.

The Student Experience in the Research University survey, or SERU, covers topics such as satisfaction with faculty, academic experience and student engagement. Unless students complete the survey, they will not be eligible to receive Gator football tickets via the upcoming football lottery.

Marie Zeglen, assistant provost and director of Institutional Planning and Research, said UF will use the information to make improvements.

“We’re not just doing a survey and putting it on our shelves,” she said. “We can listen via SERU and then academic and student affairs leaders can make changes in the student experiences that UF students tell us are important to them.”

Zeglen said the university spends about $3,000 on prizes to attract as many students as possible.

Students do not have to answer all of the questions, but they have to complete at least 75 percent of the 20-minute survey to be eligible for prizes and for football tickets. Prizes this year include a chance to be the “handlers” for mascots Albert and Alberta. Zeglen said handlers participate in events and coordinate how Albert or Alberta work with Gator fans. All students who complete the survey also can win a buy-one get-one free pass to the “Titanoboa: Monster Snake” exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

UF is among 12 universities to offer the survey and the only one in Florida. UF surveyed students in 2009 and 2011. The University of California Berkeley created and first administered SERU in 2002.

UF had the highest percentage of students complete SERU in 2011 with 63 percent, or about 19,500 students. The next highest school was the University of Southern California with 37 percent. Zeglen said she wants more students to take the survey in 2013 than in 2011. Students who started in the spring semester with the Innovation Academy will be allowed to take the survey.

“A high response rate is really important to be able to give each academic department data on their student majors,” she said. “We would love to hit 75 percent, which would represent about 24,000 undergraduate students.”

Students need to visit ISIS to take the survey.