The AACSB Newsline (Winter 1998) reviewed a study assessing the influences of student satisfaction in undergraduate business programs. The following article provides further information derived from the AACSB/EBI Student Satisfaction Project. Specifically, the relationship of the gender of students and their satisfaction with undergraduate business programs are reviewed. The assessment of under-graduate programs by international students also is examined. Lastly, students who are double majors also are reviewed.

As part of the AACSB/EBI Student Satisfaction Projects, institutions with undergraduate business programs were invited to participate in a survey designed to capture the many elements associated with students' overall satisfaction with their educational experience. Students at participating schools responded on a 1-7 scale for each of 120 questions.

There were responses from 9,340 graduating students representing the 92 institutions that participated in the undergraduate study. A fundamental question raised by the AACSB/EBI joint project is what are the elements associated with high levels of student satisfaction in undergraduate programs. Consistent with that objective, the study relied on three questions to capture "overall satisfaction."

To what extent did your undergraduate business experience fulfill your expectations?

When you compare the total expense to the quality of education, how do you rate the value of the investment you made in your undergraduate business degree?

How inclined are you to recommend your undergraduate business program to a close friend?

The undergraduate survey included a number of items that might influence student satisfaction. These items are detailed in Tables 1 (Gender Satisfaction) and Table 2 (International Student Satisfaction). Additionally, GPA (grade-point-average) in the undergraduate program, students' SAT/ACT scores, and the average number of hours worked weekly were analyzed to see if there were different satisfaction levels based on these variables. Two other questions addressed the workload required in undergraduate programs for required courses and those courses for students' majors.

There are a host of relationships among the questions asked that might be interesting. Consider, for example:

Q. Are undergraduate students' SAT scores associated with their GPA in the program?

A. Yes. Students with higher entering SAT scores do tend to have higher GPAs in undergraduate business programs.

Q. Are undergraduate students' SAT scores associated with their overall satisfaction with the program? Their GPAs?

A. Yes, in both cases. Students with higher entering SAT scores do tend to be more satisfied with the overall program. Those students with higher GPAs also are more satisfied with the program.

Q. Are the number of hours worked in paying jobs by undergraduate students associated with their GPAs in the program?

A. Yes. Students who are working more hours tend to have lower GPAs.

Q. Any relationship between business school major and overall satisfaction with the program?

A. Yes. Production/operations majors and marketing majors are the most satisfied. International business majors are the least satisfied.

Q. Any relationship between business school major and GPA? Major and SAT scores?

A. Yes. Accounting students as a group easily have the highest GPAs. Business administration/management majors, on average, have the lowest. With regard to SATs, accounting and finance students have the higher scores; management students, on average, have the lowest scores.

Q. Any relationship between business school major and plans to attend graduate school?

A. Yes. Accounting and finance students are far more likely to plan to attend graduate school. Production/operations and international business students are the least likely. It also is interesting that there is no relationship between the amount of money borrowed for one's undergraduate education and subsequent plans to attend graduate school.

Q. A previous "Newsline" article on MBA programs referred to the "tyranny of the GMAT." Is there any evidence of this tendency with SAT scores?

A. No, none at all. The "tyranny of the GMAT" described an interesting distribution of GMAT scores with overall satisfaction in MBA programs. Students with relatively low, as well as those with relatively high GMATs, were less satisfied with the overall MBA program. This was a potentially serious "catch-22" since most schools are interested in attracting students with higher GMAT scores. At the same time, however, this apparently is a group of students who are relatively more difficult to please. In any case, there is no evidence of this tendency with SAT scores and overall satisfaction at the undergraduate level.

As with the review of MBA programs, a number of areas may be of some interest to university administrators who have responsibility for undergraduate business programs, specifically: differences in undergraduate satisfaction by gender; a similar overview for international students; and double majors, a common curricular option adopted by many undergraduate students.

Gender and Undergraduate Student Satisfaction
Women comprise 48.6 percent of the student body in this study. Women's SAT scores are lower than their male counterparts; notably, however, their GPAs are higher. It also is interesting that women work more hours at paying jobs, on average, than men during their undergraduate experience. There is no difference between men and women in their plans to attend graduate school.

The pattern of undergraduate major by gender is interesting. Women are disproportionately more likely to major in accounting and business administration/management. They are far less likely to major in finance and MIS/decision science.

As illustrated in Table 1, women, in general, find many aspects of the undergraduate business program more satisfying than their male counterparts. Those elements fall into two broad categories: 1) the student environment (e.g., teamwork, academic quality and camaraderie of classmates, student organizations and extracurricular activities); and 2) the academic environment (e.g., quality of instruction in majors, academic challenge, work load). In fact, there only is one aspect of the undergraduate student experience with which women are less satisfied -- extent of duplication in the curriculum.

International Students and Undergraduate Student Satisfaction
International students comprise a relatively modest 6.6 percent of students in undergraduate business programs, much lower, for example, than in MBA programs (24.1%). The range at different schools, however, is notable, from less than 1 percent to 24 percent. Many business schools have adopted a strategy to increase the percentage of international students to facilitate the globalization of programs and curricula.

Undergraduate international students, as a group, are outstanding. Their SAT scores and GPAs, on average, are much higher than their domestic counterparts. They also are far more likely to attend graduate school. As regards to choice of majors, international students are far more likely to be in finance and international business; they are far less likely to pursue accounting, management/business administration, or marketing.

This survey of undergraduate students strongly suggests, however, that many schools of business have a rather serious problem. International students, a growing segment for many schools, are a far less satisfied group as compared to their domestic counterparts. As Table 2 illustrates, international students have a lower assessment of the overall undergraduate business program.

Moreover, international students' assessments of the academic challenge of the program, quality of faculty and instruction for courses in students' majors, quality of faculty and instruction for courses in required courses, amount and quality of student teamwork, academic quality and camaraderie of classmates, student organizations and extracurricular activities, quality of faculty and non-faculty student advising, quality of placement and career services, and effectiveness of course sequencing are much lower, as well.

Differences in satisfaction across these many dimensions may signal a serious problem for many business schools, especially those that seek to increase their proportion of international students. Certainly, there is some evidence that international undergraduate business students are not being integrated successfully in the totality of the educational experience (e.g., student teamwork, camaraderie of classmates, student organizations and extracurricular activities). Beyond that, there appear to be academic issues, as well (e.g., academic challenge, academic quality of classmates, instructors and instruction). There also is a perception that support services are not satisfactory (e.g., advising, placement and career services).

Double Majors
More than 30 percent (30.4%) of undergraduate business students elect to be double majors within the business program. The most common choices are combinations of finance and accounting, marketing and management, finance and marketing, international business with finance or marketing, management science/decision science with marketing, and operations management with management science/decision science. On average, double majors are the better students with higher SAT scores and higher GPAs. International students are more likely to be double majors; there is no difference in the percentage of men and women electing to double major.

While double majors do not differ in their overall satisfaction with undergraduate programs as compared to students with a single major, they do report less satisfaction with the quality and faculty and instruction for required courses and those courses for their majors. They also report less satisfaction with the academic quality and camaraderie of their classmates. In what must be considered something of an irony, double majors also suggest that the curriculum is not as challenging.

Conclusion
While some of these results are sobering, they should be interpreted cautiously. These results are reported in the aggregate across some 9,340 undergraduate students in many universities. As has been noted in previous articles, a particular school could have a very different performance profile. An individual assessment by school would be the preferred approach for many administrators. An even better option would be a school's individual assessment that could be compared to peer institutions. Peer institutions might be chosen on the basis of a Carnegie classification distinction, institutions in contiguous states or institutions with which the school routinely competes. Also, the data reported here are a snap-shot in time.

"It will be fascinating to watch the changes in these indicators, as well as others, as multiple years of data from the AACSB/EBI partnership become available," said Dan R. Dalton, dean of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Future Newsline articles will address elements of faculty satisfaction and longitudinal data for both undergraduate and MBA programs.

Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (EBI), in partnership with AACSB, develops and makes available benchmarking reports applicable to management education. For information, contact Glenn Detrick, EBI managing director, at (314) 963-1018 or via Email at ebiebi@aol.com