Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP)
CIRP was established in 1966 at the Higher Education Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). It was first administered at Georgia Tech in 1966. CIRP is our nation’s largest and oldest longitudinal, empirical study of the American higher education system. CIRP was most recently administered at Georgia Tech in 2017 and will be re-administered in the Spring of 2020. The CIRP Freshman Survey is given to incoming first-year students before they start classes at Georgia Tech. The instrument collects extensive information that allows for a snapshot of what our incoming students are like before they experience college. Key sections of the survey examine:
- Established behaviors in high school
- Academic preparedness
- Admissions decisions
- Expectations of college
- Interactions with peers and faculty
- Student values and goals
- Student demographic characteristics
- Concerns about financing college
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
NSSE was conceived in 1998 as a new approach to gathering information about collegiate quality at the Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University Bloomington School of Education. It was piloted in 1999 and first administered at Georgia Tech in 2000, most recently in 2017. Survey items on The College Student Report represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. Georgia Tech uses our data to identify aspects of the undergraduate experience inside and outside the classroom that can be improved through changes in policies and practices more consistent with good practices in undergraduate education.