University of California students remain highly satisfied with their education overall, and with their access to courses needed to graduate, according to a survey of UC undergraduates released this week.

Despite dramatic reductions in state funding for higher education and rising enrollment, the 2012 UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) shows overall student satisfaction has remained at 82 percent, a number that has been essentially unchanged since 2006.

Seventy-three percent of students reported they were satisfied with their access to courses needed to graduate, a jump from 68 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, 89 percent were satisfied with their ability to get into the major of their choice.

Provost Aimée Dorr said she was gratified by survey results that showed UC undergraduates were as satisfied with their college experience today as they were seven years ago.

“UC has worked hard to protect our academic program in the face of reduced state funding, and these results show that we are succeeding,” Dorr said. “Our students get the classes they need, when they need them, and they’re happy with the quality of our faculty and their access to them.”

Sixty-two percent of students surveyed were satisfied with their access to small classes. Moreover, 85 percent of undergraduates were satisfied with their access to faculty outside of class, while 89 percent reported satisfaction with the quality of faculty instruction.

Student regent–designate Cinthia Flores said the survey results reflected well on how undergraduates felt about the quality and breadth of their education.

“Students are excited about studying at a UC campus and about the interactions they have with faculty,” Flores said. “They value their classroom experiences, but also the wealth of opportunities available to them outside the classroom, such as the study abroad program, internships and community service.”

One important educational opportunity available to UC students is the ability to participate in faculty-led research. UC provides abundant opportunities for this collaboration, with almost three-quarters of students indicating they completed some kind of research-related project, activity or scientific or scholarly research paper.

While overall student satisfaction with the UC experience remained consistently high, undergraduates were less happy about recent tuition increases caused by state budget cuts. Seventy-one percent of UC students said they were concerned about paying for their education, up from 64 percent in 2010, and only 4 percent said college expenses were not a problem for them.

About the survey

The UC Undergraduate Experience Survey is a comprehensive look at the academic and civic engagement of undergraduate students across the University of California system. The survey has been administered every two years since 2002, with the goals of assessing UC’s successes in meeting student expectations of their undergraduate experiences, and suggesting areas for improvement.

The 2012 survey garnered a 36 percent response rate from UC students, or approximately 63,500 current freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.

More information about the survey — including detailed data and methodology — is available at http://studentsurvey.universityofcalifornia.edu.

Applications for the 2013 Larry L. Sautter Award honoring innovation in information technology will be accepted through 5 p.m. this Friday, May 17, 2013.

UC’s Sautter Award recognizes innovative use of information technology in support of the university’s mission. The award is open to faculty and staff from all UC campuses, the Office of the President and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

In 2012, award-winning projects included a registry that allows research staff to easily search for appropriate volunteers for their projects; a tool that helps researchers create data management plans, which are required by most major federal funding programs; and a framework that enables campus web pages to display and function well on a range of electronic devices from a laptop to a smart phone.

The Sautter Award program presents up to three golden awards, two silver awards and five honorable mentions. Award recipients will be announced at the UC Computing Services Conference, Aug. 4 to 6, 2013, at UC Irvine.

For more details about the award and how to apply, visit the Sautter Award Program website.

Named for UC Riverside’s former associate vice chancellor for computing and communications, the award program is sponsored by the UC IT Leadership Council.

The University of California is leveraging its expertise to enhance patient care at UC medical centers systemwide, awarding a $1 million grant to expand specialized care for seriously ill patients.

The two-year project, led by Wendy Anderson, M.D., M.S., of UC San Francisco, seeks to improve the quality of care for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and their families. The project will expand a training program for bedside nurses to increase the integration of palliative care into ICUs across UC Health.

Palliative care is specialized medical care for seriously ill patients and their families that focuses on quality of life: managing pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, and helping to ensure that patients get the type of care they want.

Palliative care improves care for patients and their families and also decreases costs. While the field has been growing rapidly — two-thirds of U.S. hospitals with more than 50 beds now have a palliative care team — access is still limited. Even in hospitals that have palliative care, many seriously ill patients do not receive it.

The grant is being awarded by a new joint venture between the UC Center for Health Quality and Innovation and UC’s systemwide Office of Risk Services. The joint venture, called the Center for Health Quality and Innovation Quality Enterprise Risk Management, is part of an effort to improve patient care and satisfaction throughout UC Health.

“We are focused on transforming health care so that it improves the quality of the care we give, the efficiency of the care we give and improves population health,” said Terry Leach, executive director of the UC Center for Health Quality and Innovation. “I can’t think of a better example than to improve care to the seriously ill.”

The project, led by Anderson and her co-investigators, Steven Pantilat, M.D., from the UCSF School of Medicine and Kathleen Puntillo, R.N., Ph.D., from the UCSF School of Nursing, aims to increase the integration of palliative care in the ICUs of the medical centers at UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego and UCSF.

See the full story by UCOP Communications Coordinator Alec Rosenberg, which includes a list of the other UC physicians and nurses working with Anderson on the project.

The UC Policy on Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect has recently been revised, and employee comments are invited through Monday, May 27.

California’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) requires employers, including the university, to identify mandated reporters, that is, individuals required to report observed or suspect child abuse or neglect to designated law enforcement or social service agencies. As a condition of employment, the university must secure acknowledgement of their status and reporting obligations from these employees.

The policy has been revised to include comments received during the December 2012 notice period.

For further clarification, please see the following documents:

• Appendix A: Mandated reporter categories
• Appendix B: Model acknowledgement forms
• Appendix C: Frequently asked questions

Following the comment period, the final version of the policy will become effective upon UC President Mark Yudof’s signature.

If you have any questions or comments about the policy, please feel free to contact Employee and Labor Relations Manager Michael Lum at Michael.Lum@ucop.edu by May 27.