ABSTRACT
Faculty in the USA share with their colleagues in the UK and the rest of the world a growing need to explain and to document the value of the undergraduate student experience at their respective institutions. Competing budget priorities and questions about quality have produced level funding or even financial cuts. Government officials at all levels as well as the public are increasingly questioning the educational system and how much student learning is being achieved. Some of the major criticisms include:
students do not have the basic skills of reading, writing, and mathematics to function effectively in the work force and in a competitive society
there is litde consensus about the general education or the knowledge, skills and personal experiences every student should have, regardless of his or her major subject of study, and
credible measures of student learning are generally not available, particularly at an institutional level.
