Transfer students comprised about 40% of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s degree-seeking undergraduate student population in fall 2020, according to data provided by the Mānoa Institutional Research Office (MIRO). To better understand how data can be used to aid transfer students and support the university’s decision-making process, MIRO hosted a virtual symposium on August 12 where they shared transfer student data trends, demonstrated useful data tools and held meaningful discussions with attendees and UH Mānoa’s former Assistant Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Ronald Cambra.
This symposium attracted approximately 90 registrants from UH Mānoa, other UH campuses, as well as universities outside of the UH system. Led by Director Yang Zhang, MIRO’s staff shared a series of innovative and comprehensive data tools created in-house at MIRO. Its symposium included data on admissions, enrollment, persistence (whether students stayed at UH Mānoa for their academic career), degree, time-to-degree, grade point average, and various quantitative and qualitative survey results.
“What we’ve demonstrated and discussed here are only the tips of icebergs containing rich data that MIRO’s webapps can offer to help us better understand the transfer student population. We encourage UH Mānoa’s faculty and staff members to make good use of those data tools and use data to better assist our students,” Zhang said.
Cambra, who retired earlier this year after a 47-year career at UH Mānoa, described highly-successful initiatives that have been created to assist transfer students and the entire undergraduate student population under his leadership. These include the establishment of the Council of Academic Advisers and the Manoa Transfer Coordination Center, the development of the four-year academic plan and the STAR degree audit program.
To view the presentation and previous virtual symposium topics, visit MIRO’s website, and sign up for MIRO’s newsletter to stay up-to-date on its latest findings and future symposiums.
This work is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of Enhancing Student Success (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
—By Marc Arakaki
