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Delivering Results

UC San Diego aspires to be a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented, public research university. To achieve this vision, and our goal of being a destination for education, art, culture and healthcare, the campus community is pursuing excellence through profound transformations: 

  • Intellectual transformation through a focus on scholarly, pedagogical, artistic and medical initiatives that draw a diversity of disciplines and approaches
  • Physical transformation that can support a growing, and increasingly diverse student cohort
  • Cultural transformation through pursuit of bold ideas that reinforce the spirit of our campus' development, forging ahead to make new discoveries and connect more cohesively with our local community and beyond

Below, we describe some of the ways our campus, through the leadership of Academic Affairs, is achieving this redefinition of the public research university.

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Increase in Overall Enrollment

UC San Diego has increased student enrollment by more than 10,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students since 2012. This represents a tremendous increase in access to public higher education at a top research university.

Undergraduate Enrollment

 Total Undergraduate GrowthUndergraduate FTE 2024

 

Graduate Enrollment

 

 2023 Grad Student GrowthGraduate Full Time Enrollment 2024

 

Positive Upward Trend in Graduation Rates

Such growth in overall numbers is most impactful when graduation rates also rise. UC San Diego has steadily increased graduation rates for all student demographics over the last decade and equity gaps are closing. This data also shows progress towards meeting the 2030 goals for graduation rates, demonstrating UC San Diego’s commitment to increasing overall and timely graduation rates for all students.

2024 UCSD Graduation Rates

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Expanded Diversity of Newly Enrolled Student Cohorts

It is noteworthy that as UC San Diego's enrollment has increased, the diversity of the student body has grown at an even faster rate.

2024 Student Diversity Growth

Increase in Faculty Numbers and Diversity

Through targeted investment in interdisciplinary recruitments and cluster hires, UC San Diego has increased the number of Senate faculty significantly as the student body has grown.  Importantly, the diversity of the faculty and the breadth of the perspectives they can offer students have grown faster than the overall increase in numbers.

2024 Faculty Diversity Growth 

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Improved Student Opinion of UC San Diego Experience

Improving students’ sense of belonging and making UC San Diego a student-ready campus are key priorities for the university. Our rising scores in the University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey data show that our collective efforts are having an impact.

2024 UCUES Student Experiences Survey Results

 

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Students Utilizing the Teaching + Learning Commons

 The Teaching + Learning Commons continues to expand its reach as undergraduate enrollment continues to grow. The Commons now serves more than 25% of undergraduate students on campus.

 TLC - May 2024 - Undergraduate Usage

 

  

Impact of Teaching + Learning Commons on Student Performance

Recent data shows that students making regular use of the Supplemental Instruction program in The Commons have greater academic success, especially in challenging entry-level courses.  Notably, while all students benefit, the impact is greatest for Hispanic/Latinx students and First-Generation college students; this demonstrates that Supplemental Instruction assists in closing equity gaps.

  2024 TLC Student Improvement DFW Rate

2024 TLC Student Improvement DFW gen

 

  

Engagement of the Teaching + Learning Commons with Faculty

The Teaching + Learning Commons now regularly works with hundreds of faculty each year, advancing teaching excellence through helping instructors improve their evidence-based, learner-centered, and equitable teaching practices.

2024 Faculty Engagement

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Growth in Participants in Summer Bridge

Providing opportunities for all students to feel supported and prepared for their academic experience at UC San Diego is a critical piece of our overall strategy to reduce equity gaps. Summer Bridge welcomes all incoming first-year students, but prioritizes students who are first-generation or from underserved backgrounds. The five-week, student-centered program promotes a smooth and successful transition from high school to university  through selected courses and highly-personalized connections and resources that continue through the academic year. Starting in 2021, a Collective Impact approach was employed, significantly increasing the overall enrollment in Summer Bridge, with an extremely high level of these students persisting at the university after the program's summer component.

2024 Summer Bridge Enrollment 

 

Summer Bridge Academic Performance

Students who attended Summer Bridge in Summer 2023, whether in person or remotely, saw similar academic success, both in their overall GPA, as well as the number of academic units they successfully completed in the three quarters after attendance. This confirms the support program's structure and content is similarly impactful whether delivered in-person or remotely.

Academic Performance of 2023 Summer Bridge Participants

2024 Summer Bridge Academic Performance

 

 

Summer Session Enrollment Growth

One of the ways to support academic success and reduce time to graduation is to increase participation in summer session. In the last few years, we observed that offering online courses during summer session dramatically increased summer enrollments, a trend that has continued post-pandemic. Academic Affairs is working with departments, colleges, and the Academic Senate to ensure that high-quality distance education options continue to be available to support students in the summer.

 2024 Summer Session Enrollment