Royal Roads graduate students more satisfied, earn more money

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Royal Roads graduate students more satisfied, earn more money

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Royal Roads graduate students more satisfied, earn more money, and get more from their educational experience province-wide survey shows

For immediate release – April 7, 2009

Victoria, B.C. – A survey published by The University Presidents’ Council of British Columbia shows that graduate students from Royal Roads University are more satisfied with their programs, are more likely to recommend RRU programs to others, and earn more money than their counterparts from other B.C. universities.

Findings from a B.C. University Survey of Graduates from Master’s and Doctorate Programs show that RRU graduates are more satisfied with the level of education they received. Based on the criteria used to assess satisfaction, RRU scored highest in four of the six categories. For example 94 per cent of RRU graduates would recommend the university to prospective students compared to an average of less than 88 per cent for the rest of B.C. universities.

“Royal Roads University has always taken pride in its client-focused approach to learners,” said RRU president Allan Cahoon, “so it stands to reason that our graduates would be pleased with the quality of education they receive. We are a university that looks to its learners to help us improve our programs, which makes us highly responsive to how our programs fit the needs of the workplace.”

Other results in which Royal Roads University comes out ahead include availability of courses appropriate to the degree program– 97 per cent of respondents were able to get the courses they needed, while the next highest score was 79 per cent for Simon Fraser University graduate students.

“Royal Roads graduate learners normally get the courses they want,” Cahoon said. “Since our programs are created with working professionals in mind and because they operate on a cohort model, a collegial environment that plays an important part in the quality of education. Students move together through the course work and availability of courses is built into the delivery model.”

Another result of the survey relates to institutional loyalty: graduates from Royal Roads University were 77 per cent more likely to continue a primary loyalty to the university, compared to the next highest which was 47.5 per cent of UBC graduate students feeling a primary loyalty to that university.

“Surveys like this also point to areas that need work,” said Cahoon. “For example, despite having a strong percentage of graduates who maintain a primary allegiance to Royal Roads University, we also have the lowest proportion of graduates who maintain an academic or professional relationship with the university. That tells me we need to build on the high regard our graduate students have for RRU and create stronger relationships among our alumni.”

RRU graduate students tend to be mid-career working professionals who continue working while completing their program. The survey results show that they have a median income of $85,000 a year compared to the next highest income median of $69,500 a year for SFU graduate students who also tend to work full-time while completing their program.

The results of the online survey were prepared by Sham Pendleton and Walter Sudmant from Planning and Institutional Research at the University of British Columbia. The results are based upon the feedback of two cohorts of B.C. university graduates from master’s and doctorate programs in 2000/2001 or 2003/2004. Out of the 3,602 graduates who were contacted, 929 people responded, which is a rate of 25.8 per cent. The response rate for RRU students was 20 per cent (189 responses), versus 46 per cent (429 responses) for UBC, 18 per cent (172 responses) for Simon Fraser University, 12 per cent (115 responses) for the University of Victoria and three per cent (24 responses) for the University of Northern British Columbia.

Read all the survey results: BC University Survey of Graduates