August 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
For an Interview:
Robert Loveridge
(801) 863-8161
Utah Valley University is currently participating in the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA), a Web site that provides undergraduate data of campuses across the country. VSA uses a common template for all participating institutions to display similar information plus it provides additional links for institutions to add contextual information to profile their uniqueness as educational institutions. As an early adopter of the College Portrait, UVU is one of three public institutions in Utah participating in the initiative, and the first in the state to post its data on the UVU and VSA Web sites.
The VSA is a voluntary initiative developed by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). It was designed to help institutions demonstrate accountability and stewardship to the public, provide information on educational outcomes and to do so in an understandable and comparable format. The VSA College Portrait provides a way for institutions to compile statistical information and make it accessible to those who are interested.
“UVU certainly saw the value of letting the public know who we are, what we want to do, and where we are headed as an institution and at the same time provide greater transparency and accountability to those whom we serve,” said Robert Loveridge, UVU’s director of Institutional Research and Information.
More than half (286) of the AASCU and NASULGC membership of public colleges and universities across the country have signed up to use the VSA College Portrait to show statistics such as admission rates, average class sizes, expected attendance costs, retention rates, campus crime data and other information to provide a clearer picture of what life is like on each campus. The Web site is mainly targeted toward prospective students and families and also toward governing board members, legislators, policy-makers, education agency administrators and institutional faculty and staff.
UVU’s College Portrait is accessible at www.uvu.edu and located on the
bottom left corner of the Web page. For more information on VSA, go
to www.voluntarysystem.org.
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College Marketing Contact:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written by:
Britnee Nguyen
(801) 863-8504