UDLA recognizes the need to prepare life-long learners who develop knowledge and skills in classroom settings and deepen their learning through experiences beyond those walls, who communicate and collaborate across cultures in an increasingly competitive world. For these reasons, assessment is essential to guide, empower, and integrate student learning. Assessment is not an isolated activity or merely the evaluation of student work, but rather a way to encourage students to engage in their own learning, especially through reflection, and a means by which to measure the effectiveness of the university’s programs, their curricula and teaching-learning processes. Thus, the principal objective of assessment is to support the learning process of every student and stimulate meaningful learning, as well as academic achievement and personal growth, consonant with established institutional and program learning outcomes.
UDLA’s institutional learning outcomes form both the underpinning reason for all teaching and learning activities that take place and serve as a framework for activities that contribute to students’ overall development. They are linked to the mission of forming “capable, enterprising individuals with an international perspective and a firm commitment to society, based on ethical principles and values,” as well as the core competencies specified by WSCUC and other transversal learning outcomes.
Critical Thinking: Thinks clearly and accurately to solve problems or generate ideas based on the critical analysis of evidence in order to formulate valid conclusions. | Innovation and creativity: Innovates and creates with knowledge, independence, entrepreneurial spirit and orientation toward achievement in diverse contexts, grounded in professional ethics. | ||
Collaborative work: Engages actively in teamwork, contributing to the achievement of common objectives through collaboration based on defined roles. | Citizenship and a global vision: Demonstrates a multicultural and global vision, as well as respect for diversity, fulfilling obligations and responsibilities as a citizen and a professional. | ||
Communication in Spanish: Communicates ideas with clarity and fluency, taking into consideration purpose and context, and using effective oral and written language. | Communication in English: Communicates effectively in English in the four basic language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. | ||
Information literacy: Uses technology effectively to access and evaluate information, applying ethics and scientific rigor in research and other scholarly endeavors. | Quantitative reasoning: Applies quantitative reasoning to interpret data and solve everyday problems, as well as complex challenges. |
The UDLA approach applies assessment cycle thinking to “capture” learning achievement in a systematic way and drive continuous improvement. This is based on:
Demographic Data: Institutional headcount totals the number of students enrolled yearly and a breakdown by men and women. Enrollment by ethnicity presents data on the most representative ethnic groups of the university.
Student Completion:
Retention and graduation rates are calculated through the 2021-2022 academic year based on new, first-time students entering in the fall semester. These rates do not consider incoming transfer students. Retention rates are calculated in 1 and 2 years.
Graduation rates are calculated on a 5-year, 6-year and 7.5-year graduation rate. The percentage of graduates in each cohort by gender considers only actual graduates, not the original makeup cohort.
Scholarship information: Information is divided by the type of scholarship granted.
Geographic Data: Presents the composition of the university’s student body.
Add'l. Demogr. Data: Includes information on marital status, disability and first-generation students.