Institutional Characteristics Affecting the Educational Experiences of Undergraduate Students: A Review of Literature.

Introduction A number of colleges and universities in the United States today officially enroll tens of thousands of students (Kuh, 2006). Over the past four decades, a significant change in the delivery of post-secondary education involves the dramatic increase in the use of adjunct faculty (Jacoby, 2006; Lei, 2007). From an administrator's perspective, many higher education institutions rely heavily on the first-hand knowledge and experience that adjunct instructors bring to the classroom; hiring these instructors are cost-saving and have staff flexibility (Lankdard, 1994; Lei, 2007), especially during economic downturns. As a result, students at large institutions can be essentially anonymous, relatively unknown by their instructors and their peers (Kuh, 2006). Meanwhile, higher education institutions typically have multiple missions in response to a variety of educational, social, and economic interests of the taxpayers who support them (Kuh, 2006). To increase access to public higher education by historically underrepresented groups, many of these institutions officially admit students with diverse demographic backgrounds including minority, first-generation, as well as economically-, physically, and learning-challenged students (Lei, 2007). In part, this increased access is why public colleges and universities are disproportionally among four-year institutions with the lowest student retention and graduation rates (Carey, 2004). Moreover, higher education institutions are typically expected to be a driving force of the current economy, attempting to balance among undergraduate education, graduate training, research, as well as service to the state, region, and nation (Kuh, 2006). Taken together, these factors and others make it difficult and challenging to create positive learning environments where students feel supported and encouraged, and to put in place other features associated with student learning, such as small classes and frequent interactions with faculty members (Astin, 1993; Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). Institutional characteristics, collectively, have played a vital role in determining student success, retention, and graduation. Such characteristics may include campus climate (environment), campus size, library size, student population size, student-faculty ratio, type of institution, course format, campus facilities, student support services, campus-sponsored activities, , as well as on-campus living and employment. This article evaluates previously published literature regarding the institutional characteristics that determine the educational experiences of undergraduate college students in the United States. Institutional Characteristics Campus Environment Strong institutional commitment, with its devotion to invest and allocate various resources, is a required condition for enhancing student learning and development. Institutional characteristics have played a crucial role in determining the educational experiences of undergraduate students. In general, institutions should provide supportive campus environment that is conductive to student learning (Table 1). The campus environment should encourage various aspects of student learning, such as developing scholarly and intellectual qualities, practical and career relevance of college experiences, along with positive relations with students, faculty, and staff (Pace and Kuh, 2002). Campus, Library and Student Population Sizes Sizes of the campus, library, and student population are often positively related among the three variables. Sizes of the campus and student population, however, are often negatively related with student-faculty ratio (Table 1). Many college administrators believe that the lower the student-faculty ratio, the greater the learning and personal development will occur (Astin, 1999) due to a greater student-faculty interaction. Frequent interaction with faculty is more strongly related to satisfaction with college than any other type of involvement or any other student or institutional characteristics (Astin, 1999). …