Student Success: Minerva University

Student Achievement: Fall 2020

Bachelor’s Degrees of the Minerva University

The Minerva University focuses on the success of our students. We provide active learning in an all-seminar program because this form of pedagogy has been shown to be superior to traditional lecture-based instruction. Our students learn to work as individuals and as members of teams, and learn habits of mind and foundational concepts that will serve them in good stead for a lifetime. We also support co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities and provide robust student support services to assist students through challenges they may face while enrolled in our programs.

Student Demographics

One of the key characteristics of Minerva University is its global character. Students come to Minerva from all over the world to study and undergraduate students live in seven major world cities during the four-year undergraduate program. All undergraduate students are full-time.

We have 618 students studying in the 2020-2021 Academic Year. This year students are studying in San Francisco, Berlin, and London in the Fall and San Francisco, Taipei, and Seoul. Because of the pandemic, approximately a quarter of our students are studying remotely. They come from approximately 60 different countries, with no single country dominating the enrollment. They are approximately half men and half women.

Enrollment and Retention

As demonstrated in the table below, Minerva’s retention overall is currently at 92% (636+104+119/ 934). Retention from first year to second year for each cohort has ranged from 89% to 98%.

Undergraduate Enrollment and Retention

* The Founding Class from 2014-2015 had a gap year during 2015-2016 and joined together with the 2015 matriculating Inaugural Class for the 2016-2017 academic year.

** Includes 18 students on Leave of Absence with intent to return.

Undergraduate Completion

* %=Total number of graduates/# matriculated four or five years earlier.

Outcomes for May 2019 and 2020 Graduates of the Undergraduate Program

Student Learning

Degree Learning Objectives

Minerva expects all undergraduate students to meet Degree Learning Objectives ( DLOs.) These DLOs are introduced in the first-year Cornerstone courses and consist of “habits of mind” and “foundational concepts” ( HCs,) which are applied and assessed throughout the four years of study. A habit of mind is a mental skill that comes to be triggered automatically with practice; a foundational concept is fundamental knowledge that is broadly applicable, which typically does require deliberation. Each of the four core competencies, Thinking Critically, Thinking Creatively, Interacting Effectively, and Communicating Effectively, are broken down into more specific aspects (sub-competencies), and each of these aspects, in turn, includes a set of habits of mind and foundational concepts. Minerva University uses both internal and external assessments to measure student learning.

Analyses of the Core Competencies

The habits of mind and foundational concepts derived from Minerva’s core competencies are introduced in the first-year Cornerstone courses and continue to be assessed over the next three years in every Minerva course. This results in continuous evaluation of student performance on Minerva University’s undergraduate degree learning outcomes. Outcome data are analyzed at the end of each year. The Benchmark is set at a benchmark of 3.0 (Knowledge) on the rubric scale of 1-5. Year indicates the cohort’s expected graduation or year of graduation in the case of 2020. Please note that it has been a trend over multiple years that the percentage of students achieving the Benchmark is lower in their first year and increases in subsequent years.

Core Competencies and % Meeting or Exceeding Benchmark in Spring 2020

As students continue to be directly assessed in later courses on the habits of mind and  foundation concepts introduced in the first-year curriculum, they receive feedback on  their ability to transfer ( utilize) these outcomes to their upper-division coursework. The  percentages are the proportion of students receiving a mean of 3.0 ( Knowledge) or higher  on the rubric scale of 1-5.

Class of 2020 Successful Transfer Learning to New Contexts

Collegiate Learning Assessment + (CLA+)

Minerva administered the CLA+ test to provide an outside assessment of the  effectiveness of aspects of the first-year curriculum ( a subset of the critical thinking and  problem-solving learning outcomes we teach). The assessment was given at the beginning and end of the fall and spring terms to first-year students and at graduation. The Council for Aid to Education administers the CLA+ each year to more than 20,000  undergraduate students attending approximately 100 different colleges and universities.  More information about the CLA+ is available here. The table below gives the percentiles that Minerva students achieved when compared with freshmen and seniors at other institutions. 

Student Engagement

Minerva administers multiple surveys throughout the year to collect self-reported data from students. The 2019-2020 surveys, plus other tracking measures, covered the Graduating classes of 2019 and 2020 and the four cohorts of 2020 through 2023, providing the following data on student self-reported engagement and learning.

• 91% of seniors and 86% of juniors reported completing at least one external internship.
• 100% of first-year students collaborated on a team-based project with students from different backgrounds.
• 83% of all students report that they could apply the skills they learned in the classroom to real-world contexts.
• 79% of freshmen reported that they gained skills to better understand the cultural differences of their peers in the Minerva Community.
• 76% of students who engaged in coaching reported increased self-awareness of their strengths, motivators, and interests; 70% of students reported that they engaged more with others (e.g., peers, faculty, staff, external professionals) with regard to their career exploration.
• 90% of respondents value prioritizing wellness in order to be successful.

Master of Science in Decision Analysis (MDA)

This 21-month, part-time graduate program is designed to impart key professional skills, with an emphasis on research, analysis, and practical decision-making. Students learn how to interpret complex data, find rational conclusions, devise potential solutions, and evaluate the implications of their choices.

Enrollment and Retention

The first pilot cohort of master’s students participated in a 12-month full-time program and matriculated in September 2017. Upon their graduation, the program was redesigned as a 21-month part-time program and relaunched one year later. Master’s students may extend their thesis work for up to one year from the expected graduation date. Because of Covid-19, we provided an additional extension for the current cohort.

Master of Decision Analyses Enrollment and Graduate Numbers

*3 graduated in 2019; 1 withdrew; 2 are on Leave of Absence with intent to return; 2 are on thesis extensions, on track to finish by 12/2020.

Degree Learning Outcomes

The following learning outcomes are associated with the MDA degree:

• Framing problems: Identify and research important real-world problems, l earning the broad and integrative knowledge relevant to a particular research question or decision.
• Contextualizing research: Critique and extend existing research, and articulate a deep understanding of the nature and complexity of the problems seen from multiple perspectives.
• Synthesizing approaches: Apply multiple approaches, theories, and methods of analysis to formulate possible solutions to problems, integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, including computer-based data science.
• Assessing solutions: Use all available information and appropriate analytical tools to assess and select the most effective solutions to problems, incorporating risk, ethical implications, and competing interests.
• Measuring efficiency: Design processes to implement decisions effectively and measure the efficacy of planned objectives.

The Benchmark is set at a benchmark of 3.0 (Knowledge) on the rubric scale of 1-5 for the learning outcomes across the eight courses taken.

Degree Learning Outcome Benchmarks

Post-Degree Activities

MDA graduates work in a wide variety of sectors, including but not limited to science, education, government, technology, and finance. Their roles are similarly diverse, including founders (29%), chief executives (18%), and managerial/directorial roles (29%).

Post-Degree Activities

* Includes students still working on thesis