Standard
9: Student Support Services (Graduate
Education)
The institution
provides student support services reasonably necessary to enable each student to
achieve the institution’s goals for students.
An accredited
institution is expected to possess or demonstrate the following
attributes or
activities:
1. a program of student support services
appropriate to student strengths and needs, reflective of institutional mission,
consistent with student learning expectations, and available regardless of
place or method of delivery;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
Many of the student support services accessible to
undergraduates are also available to graduate students at the university. These include essential student services such
as the registrar, financial aid, dining, parking and transportation,
libraries, and housing. The Graduate Admissions website
provides a gateway to graduate and professional study at
Career services provides specialized services for graduate students. In addition to the central office of career services, individual academic units also provide their students with more selected and focused services. Examples of these include the career planning service at the School of Law-Camden, the Office of Career Services at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, and the MBA Office of Career Management in the Rutgers Business School.
Other support programs specific to
the
·
The Diversity Advantage for
Graduate Students
·
· The Teaching Assistant Project
· The Resource Center for Graduate Student External Support (CHASER)
2. qualified
professionals to supervise and provide the student support services and
programs;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
All student support offices
are professionally staffed by individuals who are hired through a rigorous
search process based on specific job requirements. The University Human Resource
Office provides guidance and assistance to offices in the hiring of
qualified professionals to supervise student support services and programs.
Most of these professional staffs include many members
who have many years of service and experience.
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
Procedures for equitably and sensitively addressing graduate students academic and other needs through direct service or referral are similar to those for undergraduate students. The Health Services website describes Patients Right and Responsibilities. Counseling and Psychological Services are offered for many different special communities and circumstances and include referrals as appropriate. The listing of services in the Graduate Catalogs and on various websites such as the gateway website for current students facilitate graduate student access to these services.
4. appropriate student advisement procedures and
processes;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
Graduate student advising is
the responsibility of each individual academic program.
5. if offered,
athletic programs that are regulated by the same academic, fiscal, and
administrative principles, norms, and procedures that govern other
institutional programs;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
Not Applicable
6. reasonable
procedures, widely disseminated, for equitably addressing student complaints or
grievances;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
7. records of student complaints or grievances;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
Most complaints or grievances
are handled and resolved at the office directly concerned. Records are not centrally kept. However, confidential records are kept for
student complaints and grievances that are brought to the Office of the
Ombudsperson for Students.
8. policies and
procedures, developed and implemented, for safe and secure maintenance of
student records;
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
The university has implemented procedures to provide guidance to offices affected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It also has a compliance policy in support of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The university has implemented an Identity Theft Compliance Policy to ensure university compliance with the New Jersey Identity Theft Prevention Act, which went into effect January 1, 2006. The university also recently implemented a new procedure that no longer uses social security numbers as student identifiers and instead uses a randomly generated “Rutgers University Identification Number.” All students were issued new identification cards with this identification number.
9. published and
implemented policies for the release of student information; and
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
The university’s policy
on the confidentiality of student records implements the requirement of the
Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
10. ongoing assessment of student
support services and the utilization of assessment results for improvement.
This element for undergraduate
education is covered in the self-study.
For Graduate Education:
The self-study discusses assessment of student support services. While the focus in the self-study is on undergraduates, many of the assessment and improvement activities for support services discussed also pertain to graduate students. More specifically, Section II of the Self-Study Report dealing with student services includes a presentation of assessment and improvement activities in fundamental support services such as dining and housing. Section V of the Self-Study Report examines undergraduate research opportunities and discusses and assesses the support environment for teaching and graduate assistants. The linked report summarizes the assessment of library support services for graduate service.