Six Sigma for College

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INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER – VOLUME 46 NUMBER 7

Gallup Findings Could Lead to Era of Continuous Improvement in Higher Education

Higher education researchers spend a lot of time studying everything in universe. But when it comes to measuring the educational experience they provide, these institutions fall short, according to Gallup Business Journal. So the Gallup-Purdue Index studied more than 30,000 college graduates to figure out what elements of college were associated with long-term measures of success.

The study identified six elements, three that pertain to feeling supported and three that apply to experiential and deep learning. As the old saying goes, things that can be measured can be managed and changed, opening a path to continuous improvement for higher education or its equivalent of Six Sigma.

In the “feeling supported” category, college graduates who had at least one professor make them excited about learning, knew their professors cared, and had a mentor doubled their odds of being engaged at work and were three times more likely to be thriving than those who didn’t feel supported.

In the ” experiential and deep learning” category, graduates who worked on a long-term project, had an internship, and were active in extracurricular activities and organizations also doubled their odds of being engaged at work. They were slightly more likely to be thriving than their counterparts.

Unfortunately, only 14 percent of the graduates strongly agreed that they experienced all three support elements, and just 6 percent strongly agreed that they experienced all three deep learning elements. Those who hit all six-a miniscule 3 percent