The Undergraduate Experience

The Undergraduate Experience is a practical guide for advancing student learning and improving institutional performance in the ever-changing landscape of higher education. Written by noted experts in the field, this vital resource challenges college and university leaders to examine current, ineffective practices that fragment their students' experience. The Undergraduate Experience puts the focus on a dynamic, integrated learning paradigm that embraces all students. Drawing on recent research and the authors' wealth of experience, The Undergraduate Experience highlights best practices from colleges and universities across the spectrum of American higher education. It includes examples from both public and private and large and small and ranging from the highly selective to those with open access. The authors distill their research results into six core themes that are common to successfulinstitutions: Learning, Relationships, Expecta-tions, Alignment, Improvement, Leadership. These six themes provide a framework for focusing both individual and institutional attention on what is most important in undergraduate education. Academic leaders can use this framework to analyze their own and their institution's success and it is designed to be flexible in order to fit a wide range of institutional settings. The Undergraduate Experience offers down-to-earth direction for leaders to hold a vision for the future, develop an effective plan, and reach their institutional goals.