NJIT will increase retention and graduation rates. Once enrolled at NJIT, students will receive the highest level of academic and social support to enable them to persevere through a rigorous curriculum and become leaders in their professions or continue advanced studies. In both undergraduate and graduate programs, new initiatives will refine and target admission processes to increase the rates of academic success.
OBJECTIVES
ADMISSIONS—To admit the students likely to succeed at NJIT, graduate in a timely manner and achieve their potential for leadership.
Expand Communication and Information Channels
- Implement focused, data-driven marketing and recruitment strategies for all programs including those offered fully online. This will help identify prospective students and those who influence their decisions.
- Communicate the benefits of an NJIT degree more effectively. This will create awareness of the academic community and articulate the rigor of the NJIT curriculum.
- Expand the pipeline programs, including pre-college activities and outreach. This will increase the application pool.
- Refine articulation agreements and increase the number of joint programs with community colleges. This will strengthen NJIT’s historical relationship with community colleges in the state and region.
- Centralize applicant information using digital technology. This will facilitate analytics to identify characteristics of successful NJIT students, target recruitment toward students with that profile and support academic advising.
Strengthen Graduate Student Recruitment
- Recruit graduate students at the department level, with emphasis on the following: student point of contact, peer outreach, and individual faculty outreach. This will personalize and increase the effectiveness of recruitment efforts.
- Admit graduate students using competitive practices, including an earlier application deadline, timely offer letters, and attractive graduate stipends. This will increase the number of applicants and produce a better yield for admitted students.
- Enter into partnerships with international student recruiters. This will result in an increase in applications and an improved yield.
- Analyze graduate student success by departments and programs. This will result in a graduate student success profile to inform and guide future admissions.
Improve Web and Social Media Presence
- Create a high-impact website. This will improve recruitment, promote an NJIT identity and better serve the needs of the NJIT community through increased communication and functionality.
- Enhance NJIT’s social network presence. This will increase awareness of NJIT, highlight accomplishments and help in student recruitment.
PERSISTENCE and RETENTION—To increase persistence and retention by strengthening support for students.
Design a Connected Academic Community
- Use college- or discipline-specific approaches to form effective Learning Communities for all incoming freshman students. This will help undergraduate students receive consistent academic support as part of a cohort of students with similar curricular interests.
- Connect the student community through increased personal interactions and appropriate technology. This will create a stronger NJIT identity among students.
Intensify Academic Advisement
- Develop university guidelines for advisement across academic departments. This will lead to timely graduation.
- Increase use of software tools and analysis in advising. This will assist in tracking students and offering more effective advising.
- Admit NJIT students to a college or school of their choice with the option of indicating a provisional major that may be officially declared at the end of the first year. This will improve retention and graduation.
- Intensify first-year advisement. This will aid students in selecting an appropriate undergraduate major.
- Enhance sophomore student advising with particular emphasis on the role of the faculty adviser in the major. This will offer sophomores the support and resources to foster a smooth transition into their declared major.
- Analyze student data to identify at-risk students. This will make possible timely interventions by faculty and advisers, followed by appropriate academic and student services support.
- Provide students with the information necessary to make informed decisions about their educational experience. This will promote personal responsibility.
Improve Tutoring, Mentoring and Student Support
- Coordinate tutoring, mentoring, computerfacilitated learning and student support across campus. This will improve the management and effectiveness of these programs.
- Provide faculty, instructors and academic advisers with resources and best practices to improve their role as mentors. This will ensure that retention is strengthened through uniform approaches to learning experiences, policies and procedures.
GRADUATION—To ensure that more NJIT students graduate on time and without administrative obstacles.
Implement Curriculum-Guided Course Scheduling
- Allocate instructional resources by offering courses in the semesters when they are needed and avoiding scheduling conflicts for required classes. This will promote timely graduation.
- Expand the scope of winter and summer sessions by offering additional sections, particularly online. This will also facilitate timely graduation and enhance tuition revenues.
Streamline the Graduation Process
- Notify students automatically when they are nearing graduation, alerting them to their remaining academic requirements. This will reduce barriers to graduation.
- Eliminate the student-initiated application for graduation of qualified students. This will prevent administrative delays.
- Expand advising and financial support for senior students. This will increase their chances of completing the final steps toward their degree.
CAMPUS QUALITY OF LIFE—To enhance the quality of campus life leading to increased student engagement, satisfaction, and pride.
Build a Supportive Environment
- Cultivate a courteous and welcoming campus climate. This will enhance student satisfaction and success.
- Develop a service-focused message for all faculty and staff following the systematic examination of current practices. This will ensure a consistent student-centered message across the campus.
Improve Administrative Processes and Practices
- Examine and modify university academic and non-academic administrative policies, practices and procedures. This will lend consistency and fairness to the continuing process of improving the quality of campus life.
- Develop a service center to promptly address student questions and direct students to appropriate offices as needed. This will streamline and track efforts to meet student needs.
Support Campus Activities
- Facilitate sustainable and supported campus events and experiences such as intramural athletics and academically oriented teams, like debating and chess. This will engage the entire university community and enhance campus life.
- Develop an “events center.” This will provide space and support for student activities and offer venues for NJIT community assemblies.
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS—To continuously improve student support and the quality of campus life through rigorous and honest self-evaluation.
Improve Institutional Effectiveness Through Continuous Assessment
- Deploy key metrics for university performance, particularly retention and graduation rates by colleges, schools and departments. This will help identify obstacles to student achievement.
- Use student satisfaction as an indicator of success. This will guide programs toward promoting a supportive climate and attune assessment to the more personal side of university performance.
- Develop assessment plans with learning goals for all programs. This will set clear standards and measures for success and improvement.
Make Evaluation Effective
- Implement independent evaluations for student support programs. This will improve the reliability of the assessment and make the results more useful in guiding resource allocation.
- Communicate assessment results to instructional and support personnel. This will make assessment a more effective tool for management and continuous improvement.
The Senior Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and Student Services and the Provost are responsible for overseeing the implementation of strategies and tactics under Strategic Priority One. Achievement will be measured by the following Key Performance Indicators:
* New SAT scale † Old SAT scale
