Student Achievement

The deadline for Extended Decision applicants is April 10. Apply now.

Student Achievement

Bachelor’s Degrees of Minerva University

Minerva University focuses on the success of our students. We provide active learning in an all-seminar program because this form of pedagogy has been shown to be superior to traditional lecture-based instruction. Our students learn to work as individuals and as members of teams, and learn habits of mind and foundational concepts that will serve them in good stead for a lifetime. We also support co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities and provide robust student support services to assist students through challenges they may face while enrolled in our programs.

Student Demographics

One of the key characteristics of Minerva University is its global character. Students come to Minerva from all over the world to study and live in seven major world cities during the four-year undergraduate program. All undergraduate students are full-time.

We have 618 students studying in the 2020-2021 Academic Year. This year students are studying in San Francisco, Berlin, and London in the Fall and San Francisco, Taipei, and Seoul. Because of the pandemic, approximately a quarter of our students are studying remotely. They come from approximately 60 different countries, with no single country dominating the enrollment. They are approximately half men and half women.

Enrollment and Retention

As demonstrated in the table below, Minerva's retention overall is currently at 92% (636+104+119/ 934). Retention from first year to second year for each cohort has ranged from 88% to 98%.

Undergraduate Enrollment and Retention

	Fall 2014	Fall 2015	Fall 2016	Fall 2017	Fall 2018	Fall 2019	Fall 2020
2014 matric	28	28	26	24	22	0	1
2015 matric		108	95	92	90	7	1
2016 matric			160	153	150	146	32
2017 matric				198	187	177	180
2018 matric					158	149	146
2019 matric						163	157
2020 matric							119
Total Students	28	136	281	467	585	664	636**

^*The Founding Class from 2014-2015 had a gap year during 2015-2016 and joined together with the 2015 matriculating Inaugural Class for the 2016-2017 academic year.

^**Includes 18 students on Leave of Absence with intent to return.

Undergraduate Completion

Graduation	4 years (8 semesters) # (%*)	5 years (9 or 10 semesters) # (%)
Founding Class Matric 2014	21 (75%)
Inaugurual Class Matric 2015	83 (77%)	5 (81%)
Matric 2016	114 (71%)	TBD

^*% = Total number of graduates/# matriculated four or five years earlier

Outcomes for 2019 – 2021 Graduates of the Undergraduate Program

Status as of January 2022	2019 (30 mo) # (%)	2019 (6 mo) # (%)	2020 (18 mo) # (%)	2020 (6 mo) # (%)	2021 (6 mo) # (%)
Continuing graduate education	17 (17%)	13 (13%)	14 (12%)	12 (10%)	17 (10%)
Working in career-relevant jobs	77 (75%)	82 (80%)	87 (76%)	79 (69%)	130 (76%)
Actively seeking employment	2 (2%)	5 (5%)	4 (3%)	15 (13%)	11 (6%)
Serving in the military	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	2 (2%)	1 (1%)	2 (1%)
Volunteering	2 (2%)	1 (1%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (1%)
Not seeking employment	3 (3%)	2 (2%)	1 (1%)	2 (2%)	4 (2%)
Unknown	2 (2%)	0 (0%)	7 (6%)	6 (5%)	5 (3%)
Total number of graduates	103	103	115	115	170

Student Learning

Degree Learning Objectives

Minerva expects all undergraduate students to meet Degree Learning Objectives (DLOs.) These DLOs are introduced in the first-year Cornerstone courses and consist of “habits of mind” and “foundational concepts” (HCs,) which are applied and assessed throughout the four years of study. A habit of mind is a mental skill that comes to be triggered automatically with practice; a foundational concept is fundamental knowledge that is broadly applicable, which typically does require deliberation. Each of the four core competencies, Thinking Critically, Thinking Creatively, Interacting Effectively, and Communicating Effectively, are broken down into more specific aspects (sub-competencies), and each of these aspects, in turn, includes a set of habits of mind and foundational concepts. Minerva uses both internal and external assessments to measure student learning.

Analyses of the Core Competencies

The habits of mind and foundational concepts derived from Minerva’s core competencies are introduced in the first-year Cornerstone courses and continue to be assessed over the next three years in every Minerva course. This results in continuous evaluation of student performance on Minerva’s undergraduate degree learning outcomes. Outcome data are analyzed at the end of each year. The Benchmark is set at a benchmark of 3.0 (Knowledge) on the rubric scale of 1-5. Year indicates the cohort’s expected graduation or year of graduation in the case of 2020. Please note that it has been a trend over multiple years that the percentage of students achieving the Benchmark is lower in their first year and increases in subsequent years.

Core Competencies and % Meeting or Exceeding Benchmark in Spring 2020

Competency	2020	2021	2022	2023
Thinking Critically	94%	93%	96%	71%
Thinking Creatively	94%	87%	90%	78%
Communicating Effectively	95%	85%	97%	76%
Interacting Effectively	83%	88%	84%	65%
Overall	94%	95%	95%	75%

As students continue to be directly assessed in later courses on the habits of mind and foundation concepts introduced in the first-year curriculum, they receive feedback on their ability to transfer (utilize) these outcomes to their upper-division coursework. The percentages are the proportion of students receiving a mean of 3.0 (Knowledge) or higher on the rubric scale of 1–5.

Class of 2020 Successful Transfer Learning to New Contexts

Courses	%
Arts & Humanities Courses	85%
Business Courses	90%
Computational Sciences Courses	87%
Natural Sciences Courses	79%
Social Sciences Courses	88%
Overall	86%

Collegiate Learning Assessment + (CLA+)

Minerva administered the CLA+ test to provide an outside assessment of the effectiveness of aspects of the first-year curriculum (a subset of the critical thinking and problem-solving learning outcomes we teach). The assessment was given at the beginning and end of the fall and spring terms to first-year students and at graduation. The Council for Aid to Education administers the CLA+ each year to more than 20,000 undergraduate students attending approximately 100 different colleges and universities. More information about the CLA+ is available here. The table below gives the percentiles that Minerva students achieved when compared with freshmen and seniors at other institutions.

Collegiate Learning Assessment + (CLA+)

Class	Level of Class When Tested	Comparison Level at Other Institutions	Fall Percentile	Spring Percentile	One-Year Gain
2019	Freshmen	Freshmen	99	99	0
		Seniors	96	98	+2
	Seniors	Seniors	N/A	97	N/A
2020	Freshmen	Freshmen	96	99	+3
		Seniors	78	99	+21
	Seniors	Seniors	N/A	99	N/A
2021	Freshmen	Freshmen	97	98	+1
		Seniors	85	90	+5
2022	Freshmen	Freshmen	97	99	+2
		Seniors	85	93	+8
2023	Freshmen	Freshmen	94	98	+4
		Seniors	76	86	+10

Student Engagement

Minerva administers multiple surveys throughout the year to collect self-reported data from students. The 2019–2020 surveys, plus other tracking measures, covered the Graduating classes of 2019 and 2020 and the four cohorts of 2020 through 2023, providing the following data on student self-reported engagement and learning.

91% of seniors and 86% of juniors completed at least one external internship.
100% of first-year students collaborated on a team-based project with students from different backgrounds.
83% of all students report that they could apply the skills they learned in the classroom to real-world contexts.
79% of freshmen reported that they gained skills to better understand the cultural differences of their peers in the Minerva Community.
76% of students who engaged in coaching reported increased self-awareness of their strengths, motivators, and interests; 70% of students reported that they engaged more with others (e.g., peers, faculty, staff, external professionals) with regard to their career exploration.
90% of respondents value prioritizing wellness in order to be successful.

Master of Science in Decision Analysis (MDA)

This 21-month, part-time graduate program is designed to impart key professional skills, with an emphasis on research, analysis, and practical decision-making. Students learn how to interpret complex data, ﬁnd rational conclusions, devise potential solutions, and evaluate the implications of their choices.

Enrollment and Retention

The first pilot cohort of master's students participated in a 12-month full-time program and matriculated in September 2017. Upon their graduation, the program was redesigned as a 21-month part-time program and relaunched one year later. Master's students may extend their thesis work for up to one year from the expected graduation date. Because of Covid-19, we provided an additional extension for the current cohort.

Masters of Decision Analyses Enrollment and Graduate Numbers

Year Matriculated	# Matriculated	Year Graduated	# Graduated
2016	10	2017 (1-year full time program)	10
2017	8	2019 (Changed to 2-year part-time program)	3*
2019	14	2021 (planned)	TBD
2020	17	2022 (planned)	TBD

^*3 graduated in 2019; 1 withdrew; 2 are on Leave of Absence with intent to return; 2 are on thesis extensions, on track to finish by 12/2020.

Degree Learning Outcomes

The following learning outcomes are associated with the MDA degree:

Framing problems: Identify and research important real-world problems, learning the broad and integrative knowledge relevant to a particular research question or decision.
Contextualizing research: Critique and extend existing research, and articulate a deep understanding of the nature and complexity of the problems seen from multiple perspectives.
Synthesizing approaches: Apply multiple approaches, theories, and methods of analysis to formulate possible solutions to problems, integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, including computer-based data science.
Assessing solutions: Use all available information and appropriate analytical tools to assess and select the most effective solutions to problems, incorporating risk, ethical implications, and competing interests.
Measuring efficiency: Design processes to implement decisions effectively and measure the efficacy of planned objectives.

The Benchmark is set at a benchmark of 3.0 (Knowledge) on the rubric scale of 1–5 for the learning outcomes across the eight courses taken.

Degree Learning Outcome Benchmarks

Outcomes	MDA 2017	MDA 2019	MDA 2021
Framing problems	30%	100%	71%
Contextualizing research	70%	86%	64%
Synthesizing approaches	70%	100%	79%
Assessing solutions	60%	71%	50%
Measuring efficacy	60%	71%	71%
Overall	60%	86%	79%

Post-Degree Activities

MDA graduates work in a wide variety of sectors, including but not limited to science, education, government, technology, and finance. Their roles are similarly diverse, including founders (29%), chief executives (18%), and managerial/directorial roles (29%).

Post-degree Activities

Activity	MDA 2017	MDA 2019*
New role since graduation	60%	71%
Continuing previous role	30%	15%
Unknown	10%	14%

^*Includes students still working on thesis

The deadline for Extended Decision applicants is April 10. Apply now.