Innovate Student Experiences

We believe in growing flexible, nimble and strong minds. Educating students and preparing them for the workforce is a core mission of the University of Nebraska. Technology, demographics, and many other factors have led to significant changes in the way knowledge is distributed and acquired. The University of Nebraska must continue to innovate to provide an accessible student experience, inside and outside the classroom, that remains relevant and produces a desire for life-long learning. The university must equip students for their future by including experiential learning for all Nebraska students.

The student experience at Nebraska should instill the value that every person and every interaction matters, resulting in alumni who value every person and every interaction.

Strategies:

1. Develop and employ innovative approaches for recruiting, enrolling, educating, and retaining a diverse student body
2. Equip and incentivize instructors to instill in their pedagogy that every person, every interaction, and a diversity of ideas and perspectives matter
3. Use technology, physical/virtual spaces, and scheduling to more effectively educate learners whomever and wherever they are
4. Develop new tuition models that allow for increased revenue while improving accessibility and reducing student debt
5. Establish a requirement for graduation that all Nebraska students engage in experiential learning, which may include research, creative activity, or community engagement
6. Enable students to co-create academic credentials or badges to demonstrate qualifications in response to the changing workforce needs in areas including innovation, leadership, sustainability, and entrepreneurship
7. Develop a new cross-disciplinary program accessible to all students that emphasizes imagination, creative expression, entrepreneurship, and design thinking
8. Establish new curricular requirements for all students that emphasize diversity and inclusion
9. Create programs and experiences that encourage alumni to participate in life-long learning with formal and informal educational opportunities
10. Prepare and align university staff to be connected and engaged in the student experience as well as the recruitment and retention of a diverse student body
11. Align faculty apportionments, appointments, and evaluation criteria appropriately to achieve and maintain high-quality teaching
12. Implement systematic practices that enable students to improve their mental, physical, psychological, social, and emotional well-being

Expectations:

1. Increased student enrollment
2. Increased outreach to underrepresented groups, community college graduates, international, and out-of-state students
3. Increased year-to-year retention of students
4. Increased diversity of student body
5. Increased enrollment in online platforms
6. Increased number and funding of experiential learning opportunities
7. Guidelines for academic credential or badge requirements established
8. New cross-disciplinary program emphasizing imagination, creative expression, entrepreneurship, and design thinking developed and supported
9. Courses emphasizing diversity and inclusion identified, developed, and offered
10. Increased number of instructors with pedagogical training on diversity and inclusion within the classroom
11. All students receive support services they need for mental, physical, psychological, social, and emotional well-being

Targets:

1. The 4-year UNL graduation rate will increase from 46.9% to 55%; the 6-year graduation rate will increase from 67.8% to 72%
2. The first-year to second-year retention rate will increase from 84.1% to 88%
3. The equity gap in degree completion will be reduced from 14.4% to 7%
4. UNL will increase both graduate and undergraduate enrollment by 15%
5. The number of students who engage in study-abroad programs in an academic year will increase to 10%
6. All graduates will have a documented experiential learning portfolio, including internships or apprenticeships, research or creative activity, community-engaged problem solving and/or international engagement

Back to The Aims of the 2025 Strategic Plan