FAQ

All degree-seeking undergraduate students will receive an email invitation from Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Dr. Robert McMaster, on March 12^th, 2024 with a personalized link to the survey. Reminder emails will be sent throughout the spring semester to those students that have yet to complete the survey.

The 2024 Undergraduate SERU will be administered March 12th - May 31st.

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities asks all undergraduate students to answer questions related to their campus climate experiences, academic engagement, evaluation of major, financial wellness, and overall satisfaction. The results will be used to guide our work in ensuring a welcoming climate, and the best undergraduate experience possible for all current and future students.

All first-time degree-seeking undergraduates as of spring 2024 on the Twin Cities campus are eligible to participate in the survey.

This survey includes sections that ask about:

• campus climate,
• learning and development,
• financial wellness,
• student mental health and well-being,
• time usage,
• academic engagement,
• evaluation of major,
• educational experiences,
• overall satisfaction,
• and more.

The results will be used by your instructors, advisors, college, and other administrators to enhance programs, improve student services, strengthen learning opportunities, and ensure a vibrant and supportive learning environment for all students.

The results will be made available each fall on the SERU website. You can access the most recent results here.

The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. It may take a little longer or less depending on how you respond to certain branching questions.

You are not required to participate in this survey.

However, if you do choose to participate, you may choose to skip over any question that you are not comfortable answering, and may exit the survey at any time.

There are no consequences if you choose not to participate in the survey.

All students that complete SERU will receive a 20% off your entire purchase coupon (exclusions apply) to the University Bookstore.

In addition, all students that complete the survey will also be entered into random prize drawings. Check out the "Survey Incentives" page for the full list of prizes.

Any information that is obtained in connection with this survey and that could be identified with you will remain confidential, and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required by law or University policy.

No. Even if you choose not to answer every question, you are encouraged to go through all of the items in the survey and click “submit” at the end of the survey.

Yes. You can navigate through the survey items using the “previous” and “next” buttons on the survey pages.

Answers are saved by clicking the “next” button on the bottom of each page. You may close your browser and return to the survey at any point to pick up where you left off during the administration time frame.

You have until May 31st, 2024 to submit your completed survey.

Graduate and professional students asked for a way to provide anonymous feedback about their experiences; gradSERU is the University's response.

Yes. Neither the University of Minnesota Graduate School nor colleges/programs have access to identifiable response data. To verify eligibility, students are required to log-in to the survey using their UMN Student ID number. The Graduate School may receive a list of students who have been randomly selected to receive a prize for completing the survey, but does not receive any survey data connected to those students.

All degree-seeking graduate and professional students are eligible to take the survey.

gradSERU is the only comprehensive survey of graduate and professional education at the University of Minnesota. gradSERU is more comprehensive than other surveys and includes a wide of range of questions specifically focused on graduate and professional student experiences at research universities. Additionally, gradSERU is readily customizable, allowing the introduction of questions specifically tailored to the University of Minnesota.

Yes. If you exit the survey before you've completed it, when you log back in to take the survey you'll be directed to the place where you left off.

The survey works best if you take it using a desktop or laptop computer.

Results are reported to academic departments and administration at the University of Minnesota and are used to improve our graduate and professional programs and services. We also share our data with other universities in the gradSERU consortium to improve our understanding of educational best practices at leading research universities. The collected data is used by researchers, professors and students from various countries to gain a better understanding on how to improve the graduate and professional student experience.

A few examples from Directors of Graduate Studies of how programs are using feedback from previous gradSERU surveys to improve the graduate education experience:

• "The survey responses about ‘having a feeling of solidarity’ and ‘having a friend in the program’ suggested that our graduate students were having trouble forming positive peer relationships. To address this issue, our program has planned a series of graduate student information sessions and workshops as well as social gatherings during this academic year to disseminate important information while encouraging students to get to know each other better.”
• "We learned from the gradSERU results that many of our students are struggling with finding adequate funding for research conference travel, which contributes to increased stress levels and is a barrier to timely degree completion. In response, and with the support of the department's leadership, the budget for doctoral students' conference travel awards was increased from $3,000 to $10,000!”
• “We used the gradSERU data to ignite conversations about how to support students with their writing. What has been most exciting is our four writing retreats scheduled for this year and a February Writing Challenge where everyone who signs up commits to writing 30 minutes a day for 20 days. There has been a lot of enthusiasm about these community-building activities!”
• “The survey results told us that we could improve the overall climate in our program. We’re addressing microaggressions that occur both in and out of classroom by hosting professional development workshops on topics like supporting our queer and transgender community; incorporating equity, diversity and inclusion into course curriculum; and providing an orientation short-course to help build community in our program.”
• “The gradSERU results indicated that graduate students in our program wanted a physical space in which to meet and build relationships with one another. To address this, we remodeled a break room for students to use for studying, meeting, or eating lunch. This is a huge commitment because space is at such a premium in the department.”
• “We have been working hard to address issues that came out of the gradSERU survey, particularly with respect to our program resources and advising. For example, we have updated our faculty handbook to better clarify the responsibilities and expectations of advisors, and we’ve updated our graduate student handbook to provide better guidance through the program.”

Additional examples

gradSERU takes about 25-30 minutes to complete.

No.

Yes, we will publish an announcement to graduate and professional students when the data is available and post it online.

Participating North American gradSERU institutions:

• Michigan State University
• Purdue University
• Rutgers University
• University of Connecticut
• University of Delaware
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Iowa
• University of Maryland
• University of Oregon
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Toronto
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Participating international gradSERU institutions:

• University of Bremen (Germany)
• University of Gottingen (Germany)
• Lund University (Sweden)
• Utrecht University (Netherlands)