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The University of Florida series, Measuring University Performance, will take up additional topics reflecting the university's commitment to measuring university performance in quality and productivity of research, teaching, extension, and service.

All of us at the University of Florida welcome comments and suggestions prompted by this series. Please write to the Office of Institutional Planning and Research, PO Box 113115, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-3115 (ufdata@aa.ufl.edu).

Introduction

Last year, in this series, we described in detail our new and unique performance-based management system that we call the UF Bank. In 1996 we implemented the Bank because traditional methods of resource allocation fall short in providing the increasingly critical linkage of performance and dollars. Rather than simply a new way to handle money, we believed the Bank would improve the productivity and quality of the university and provide accountability with its ability to track and reward performance and measure improvement.

In two short years we now know the Bank clearly produces results. In each year, performance on the measures used to allocate the budget has increased over the prior year. This year we show significant increases on all of our productivity measures: 12 more weighted credit hours taught per ranked faculty; $5,000 more in sponsored research dollars per ranked faculty; $16,000 more in private dollars per ranked faculty; and $11,000 more in other income per ranked faculty. In addition, we now have several years of quality measures for our various campus units and these too show improvement among our colleges as compared to their peers.

After seeing the changes that have occurred as a result of the Bank (in whole or in part) we thought this would be a good opportunity to look at these and other various improvements that have been made at UF in recent years.

Excellent Value

The University of Florida continues to gain national recognition as an excellent value. UF ranks 10^th in Money magazine's 1998 College Guide, "Your Best College Buys Now, " up from 14^th in 1997. Money assigns the rankings by analyzing 16 measures of educational quality and comparing them with each university's tuition and fees. This year's top ten group, which includes both private and public schools, is described by Money as representing the "elite values in college education today." Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine (September 1998) ranks UF 5^th in its "Top 100 Values in State Universities." Kiplinger's ranking system includes five quality measures and five financial factors, giving greater weight to quality. Critical Comparisons, a college assessment service performed by education professionals gave UF its "Good Work!" Award in 1997-given to just six Research I universities out of the 64 examined. This award goes to schools "that are holding the line against spiraling tuition costs while still managing to provide very competitive levels of services, resources and safety."

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Student Quality

The quality of students attending UF has risen steadily over the past decade. The chart below shows the test scores and high school grade point average of the most recent entering class compared to their 1989 counterparts. Our admission standards are consistent with other top public research universities.

UF student test scores fall far above the national average. For example, about two-fifths of UF's 97-98 enrolled freshmen scored between 24-27 on the ACT in English, math, and science, compared to less than one-fourth nationally. Our students were roughly two times as likely as freshmen nationwide to score in the upper ranges (28-36). UF students also perform well after they get here. On the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a national test required for graduate school, 1994-96 UF undergraduates' average combined score (verbal + quantitative + analytical) of 1645 is several points above the national 1994-96 undergraduate average (1604).

Sixty percent of our entering freshmen are in the top 10 percent of their high school class, the 9^th highest percentage among AAU publics. More importantly, we continue to rank in the top 10 nationally on the number of National Merit Scholars and National Achievement Scholars admitted each year. Competition for these scholars, which represent the nation's top high school students and African-American students, is extremely tough.

Diversity

For the first time in UF history, women now make up more than one-half of the student body (50.2%). In fact, in our most recent group of first-time entering freshmen, 55.6 percent are women. Ten years ago, women made up 46 percent of the total student population and 48.7 percent of beginning freshmen. Minority students have also increased during this time. Our current minority student population comprises 21.8 percent of the total student body compared to 14.2 percent in 1989-90.

Between 1990 and 1997, the number of full-time ranked minority faculty members grew by 25 percent while the number of white ranked faculty declined by 6 percent. During this time, the number of full-time African-American ranked faculty increased by 44 percent (82 from 57). Looking at assistant professors-a group in which we conduct the heaviest outside hiring and thus can make the greatest impact-in 1997, racial minorities made up about one-fifth (19.9%) of this group compared to 14.8 percent in 1990.

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Sponsored Research

External funding for research projects, training programs, and other activities such as patient and agricultural services, reached an all-time high of $279.8 million in 1997-98. The latest NSF rankings on science and engineering R&D expenditures (based on 1996 data) list UF 12^th among AAU public institutions and 20^th in the nation-our highest ranking ever. With significant back-to-back increases in dollars awarded-up 24% in FY 1997 and 10% in FY 1998-we anticipate a continuing rise in the NSF expenditures rankings.

As we noted in the introduction, this past year we saw the sponsored research expenditures per ranked faculty increase by more than $5000. Another important trend is the increase in dollars requested from sponsors, which has nearly doubled over the past decade ($446 million in 1997-98 from $228 million in 1988-89). Last fiscal year UF researchers requested an average of $122,421 in their grant proposals compared to just $81,786 ten years earlier.

Technology Transfer

The income generated from technologies developed by UF researchers has grown tremendously over the past decade, from $2.7 million in fiscal year 1988-89 to $19.1 million in 1997-98. This growth is largely due to the invention of two highly successful products-Gatorade sports drink and a glaucoma drug called Trusopt. UF is unique in that it is very unusual for a university to develop and market two major income producers. In a survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers we rank 6^th among all U.S. universities in 1997 royalty income. (Note: Excluded is the top-ranked University of California system because it is not an individual institution).

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Fundraising

Over the past 19 years, the University of Florida Foundation has grown from $46 million effort to a $691 million enterprise. Our current capital campaign (1996-2000) is unlike anything we have experienced here in the past. This highly successful fundraising effort has propelled our endowment assets from a meager $15 million in FY 1979-80 to nearly $500 million this past year. Gifts to the university have increased from $19.5 million per year to $122.8 million during this same time period. In the latest published ratings, we rank 13^th among AAU public universities in endowment assets (NACUBO Endowment Study, 1997) and 16^th in annual giving (Council for Aid to Education, 1997).

With the goal of the "It's Performance That Counts" campaign recently elevated to $750 million from $500 million, UF has an excellent chance of breaking into the top ten among our AAU peers in the near future. Some of this additional $250 million will be used to fund our new graduate fellowship initiative, a program designed to make us more competitive for the top graduate students nationwide.

Graduation Rate

Our graduation rate has climbed steadily upward over the past several years. Sixty-four percent of the 1992 freshmen cohort graduated within six years compared to just over half (55%) of the 1984 cohort. In the 1998 NCAA graduation rate study, UF ranks 17^th among AAU public universities-unchanged from 1997 but up three spots from 1996.

Registration

In stark contrast to five years ago, registration-related systems and processes are now perceived to be one of the university's greatest strengths. Recently implemented systems designed to automate the registration process received impressive marks from 1998 Spring graduating seniors. Nearly all seniors rated TeleGator, UF's phone registration system, either excellent or good (91%). ISIS, the newer and more comprehensive online system, was less widely used by these seniors-45 percent never used compared to only 1 percent never used TeleGator-but the ratio of positive to negative scores (nearly 6 to 1) was very good. In comparison, seniors five years ago in 1993 were much more likely to dislike the "registration process" (63% total negative rating) than like it (36% positive). Just 5 percent of this senior class rated the registration process as excellent and more than one-fourth gave it the lowest rating.

The automation of registration, combined with our tracking of students through their academic career and guaranteed core courses, has also helped to greatly improve the Drop/Add process. More than two-thirds of the Spring 1998 graduating class rated the Drop/Add process as good or excellent (68%) compared to a total positive score of 10 percent five years ago. Just 4 percent of the 1998 seniors give Drop/Add a poor rating, whereas a majority (52%) gave this rating in 1993.

Libraries

Between 1991-92 and 1996-97, the University of Florida libraries increased their size by nearly 350,000 volumes. The latest index by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) ranks UF 34^th largest among research university libraries in the U.S. and Canada-up from 41^st in 1991-92. The ARL index is a summary measure of relative size based on five factors including the number of volumes held, the number of professional and support staff, and total operating expenditures.

The latest survey of graduating seniors also illustrates the recent improvements made in our libraries. Nine out of ten students in the Spring 1998 graduating class have a positive opinion toward our library facilities, with 43% rating them as "excellent" and just 1% describing the libraries as "poor." In 1993, although most students did rate our library facilities positively, fewer seniors gave top marks to the main library (34% excellent) or the library for their major field (27% excellent).

Conclusion

The areas covered here are just a few examples of how UF has improved over time, and particularly the past two years. Much of these data are related to undergraduates. As we expand our graduate enrollment, programs and funding we look forward to reporting the improvements in that area as well.

Diane D. Craig

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