More than 11,000 responses were the result of UH President Renu Khator’s 100 Days survey, president of InSite Survey Systems Alan Roberts said.
"We supported the University in analyzing, presenting and organizing the findings received over the past three months," he said.
The survey is part of the University’s effort to attain flagship status. Roberts’ presentation showed the five topics a majority of the responses agreed on.
"The themes were derived from the responses, and from there (we) broke them down to five, such as having better facilities, good academic reputation, premier faculty," Roberts said. "Everyone is on the same page pretty much."
During the presentation, faculty members said they were frustrated because they wanted to know what the responses had been for reoccurring problems, such as parking and PeopleSoft 8.9.
Associate Vice President for University Relations Karen Clarke said the number of constructive criticism in the comments shocked her.
"I expected comments saying ‘what is wrong with this place,’ but people were very supportive and constructive," Clarke said.
After being asked what things needed to be improved at UH, people who participated in the survey were asked how UH could improve.
"The staff responded that UH could reach stature by having good leadership and administrative support, good salaries, enhance transportation services and improve student/alumni and customer service," Roberts said.
The survey additionally served as a high level view and a good start to build strategies for future UH improvements.
"This information will be used to guide preliminary thoughts, and additional analysis will support these responses," he said. "This is a good way for UH to ensure greater degrees of success by implementing strategies."
The information was sorted into different categories and subdivisions for better understanding.
"The analysis we used to go through all this comments and present findings that will be usable, clear and meaningful. We distilled the comments as over-arching themes and sub-themes. From there, we coded those themes and sub-themes, and then that allowed us to sort and present natural hierarchy of responses," Roberts said.
"The information gathered from this will be used to determine the strengths and guide dialogue as a national premier research institution," Roberts said.
A video of the presentation will be available on the Web in a few days, Clarke said.