According to a new ranking, UVA has the second best four-year graduation rate among public universities. The poll, conducted by The College Solution author Lynn O’ Shaughnessy, lists UVA’s graduation rate as 85 percent—one point below the top-ranked United States Naval Academy. And while the state’s flagship university fared well on the graduation list, Virginia boasts three other schools in the top 10: the College of William and Mary (3), Mary Washington University (9), and James Madison University (10). UVA’s graduation rate for African American students is even higher—87 percent, more than eleven points ahead of its closest competitor, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
However, UVA’s showing underlines the question of whether four-year universities offer substantial academic growth–a question recently raised by a UVA faculty member. In Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, UVA Assistant Professor Josipa Roksa tracks the progress of students at four year colleges and universities. After two years of coursework, the book claims, 45 percent of students “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning.” That number dropped only slightly after four years of college.
The book attributes students’ limited academic progress to a lack of course rigor and says that students in classes that assign at least 40 pages of required reading per week display higher gains in critical thinking and complex reasoning. According to an article in the Cavalier Daily, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni awarded UVA a “D” grade for the fall 2010 semester for the limited number of core courses it requires for graduation.
