News

The materials from the 2019 CSIR trainings are now available online.  If you would still like a training consult before the next regularly scheduled CSIR training in the late spring or if you have specific questions about your CSIR data, email opa-csir@berkeley.edu for additional support.

Spring 2018 UCUES results are now available via an interactive dashboard that allows for filtering by select student characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, entry status as a freshman or transfer, first generation college status).

The Spring 2019 census of enrolled students is now complete and available to campus users in Cal Answers.

See the Fall 2018 fact sheet with up-to-date information on undergraduate student demographics, financial aid, largest major programs, profile of the incoming class, and survey responses.

The Spring 2018 UCUES overall results are now available. UCUES is a system-wide survey of all undergraduates that serves multiple analytic needs on the Berkeley campus, including Academic Program Review. Results are also used to assess affordability and basic needs security, campus climate for diversity, the undergraduate advising experience, and students' satisfaction with access to courses. More than 1/3rd of the UC Berkeley undergraduate population completed the 2018 UCUES.

The Fall 2018 census of enrolled students is now complete and available to campus users in Cal Answers.

The Our Berkeley data digest is an easy-to-use, comprehensive site for public-facing UC Berkeley data.  As of August 24, 2018, the Our Berkeley site now contains 21 interactive dashboards, showing campus data ranging from affordability to graduation rates.  For a quick, visual overview of Berkeley's undergraduate population, check out the "Of Every 100 Students" dashboard!

The Spring 2018 census of enrolled students is now complete and available to campus users in Cal Answers.

See the Fall 2017 fact sheet with up-to-date information on undergraduate student demographics, financial aid, largest major programs, profile of the incoming class, and survey responses.

OPA's rankings reference sheet is now complete for 2017, with Kiplinger most recently naming Berkeley the 5th Best Value among public universities in the US. The sheet allows a quick comparison of UC Berkeley's results among major US and international rankings, with an overview of the indicators in play and the parameters used to define which institutions are included in each ranking.

The number of Pell Grant recipients at UC Berkeley declined 2% to 8,933 between 2014-15 and 2015-16 according to data published by the Office of Postsecondary Research. While the eight Ivy League universities ranged from a 4% decline to a 7% increase, as a whole, the group remained unchanged at 10,257. As a percentage of total undergraduate population, however, UC Berkeley's 32% is well above that of the combined Ivy League at 17%.

Several OPA analysts gave presentations at the 2017 California Association for Institutional Research annual conference on Nov. 8th and 9th:

We've updated the following campus data pages to include Fall 2017 and academic year 2016-17 data:

• UC Berkeley Quick Facts
• Fall Enrollment Data (New Students)
• Fall Enrollment Trends (All Students)

The Spring 2016 UCUES overall results, as well as the Fall 2016 SONS results for freshmen and transfers are now available.  UCUES is a system-wide survey of all undergraduates that serves multiple analytic needs on the Berkeley campus, including Academic Program Review.

UC Berkeley has traditionally used a set of five public, five private, and two UC institutions as a standard set of peers for most campus level peer comparisons. A consistent peer group from topic to topic and in year-to-year comparisons avoids the perception that different peers are being chosen in order to influence Berkeley’s position. This peer comparison briefing note also defines the “Comparison 8” peer group used by UCOP for faculty salary comparisons.

OPA produced briefing notes about the number of units students attempted in their first term, and how this related to normative graduation. For both freshman and transfer entrants, attempting fewer than 13 units was associated with lower normative graduation rates. However, very few students (3% of freshman entrants and 7% of transfer entrants) attempted fewer than 13 units in their first term and, presumably, these students underwent an approval process to be allowed a lighter load.

Data from the Office of Postsecondary Education shows that Ivy League institutions, as a group, had a 1% increase in the number of Pell Grant recipients between 2013-14 and 2014-15 while UC Berkeley’s count remained steady. Although UCB’s count (9,178) was more than 1,000 fewer than all Ivy League schools combined (10,308), the number of UCB’s Pell recipients as a percentage of the total undergraduate population (34%) was twice that of the Ivy League (17%).

Here are the Cal Answers Top Ten Dashboard Tips from our newest OPA+ Institutional Research Analysts, Audrey Thomas and Malcolm Quon. As they were on-boarding to the team and learning Cal Answers, they created a list of tips they wanted to share with the campus Cal Answers community.