1. A NALYSIS OF SERU C O -C URRICULAR I TEMS Steven Brint, UC Riverside Allison M. Cantwell, UC Office of the President SERU Symposium 2014

2. W HY C O -C URRICULAR L EARNING ? Under-explored advantage of the physical campus Particularly relevant at a time when online courses are becoming competitive with face-to- face courses Not clear what, if anything, students learn in co- curricular activities

3. S OME I NTRIGUING R ECENT F INDINGS Higher expenditures on student affairs associated with higher graduation rates, net of covariates (Webber and Ehrenberg 2010) 20% of respondents to the Gallup-Purdue survey said participation in extra-curricular activities during college made a big difference in their adult lives (Gallup 2014) Leading investment, consulting and law firms select first on college prestige and second on type and quality of extra-curricular activities. Grades less important (Rivera 2011)

4. P ARTICIPATION R ATES In AY 2012, the average AAU public university supported one student club or organization for every 39 students and the average AAU private university supported one student club or organization for every 18 students. Engineering schools are the most active with one club for every 9 students at Cal Tech and MIT. Berkeley the leader among AAU publics with more than 1700 student clubs or organizations.

5. D ATA Data include over 11,000 responses from 7 schools Co-curricular Items: 17 Items During the last academic year, how often have you done the following activities in a student club or organization of which you are a member?

6. H IGH N EVER R ATES

8. T HREE OR M ORE T IMES

9. W HO PARTICIPATES W ITHIN E ACH C ATEGORY ? Never 3 or More Officer8%79% Non-Officer50%30% Gender Female36%46% Male41%42% Matriculation Freshman Entrant35%47% Transfer Entrant46%35% Class Level Freshman43%34% Sophomore39%40% Junior38%46% Senior34%51% Never 3 or More Ethnicity African American46%38% American Indian32%50% Asian37%45% Hispanic40%41% Pacific Islander31%62% White37%46% International38%39% Unknown43%39% Mean GPA 3.063.25 Total 41614938 Percent of Total 38%44%

10. I MPORTANCE OF C LUBS IN S KILL D EVELOPMENT Please rate how important your interactions with other students in student clubs and organizations has been to each of the following... 18 items

13. C ONCLUSION Participation in student organizations facilitates development of interpersonal and professional skills Approximately 63% of students participated in at least one interpersonal or professional skill-related activity in the school year. Officers take advantage of skill development more often than non-officers Most students feel clubs and organizations play a very important or essential role in their skill development (46%-67%)