GradSERU Survey

The Graduate Student Experience in the Research University, or gradSERU, survey is the only comprehensive survey of graduate and professional students at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ. This survey provides a powerful way for students to tell us about what’s working well, and what not so well, in classrooms, labs and campus life. In turn, employing data and evidence-based assessment allows the Graduate School to continuously improve the experience for graduate students, as well as the services the university provides to support them.

The survey is administered to all graduate and professional students every other year so that CU Boulder, the Graduate School and individual graduate programs can understand more fully who our graduate students are—their backgrounds, identities, academic interests and career goals and to provide support to them.

As a member of the SERU Consortium, CU Boulder uses SERU’s comprehensive survey instrument to allow the university community to track progress on key indicators of the graduate school experience over time. Nearly all the questions were crafted by the SERU Consortium to provide consistency of findings across institutions.

The next survey will be administered in spring 2025.

Changes Made as a Result of gradSERU

Student concerns regarding cost of living and compensation have resulted in continued stipend increases, expanded benefits and the remission of mandatory fees. 

Physical and mental well-being concerns of our graduate students led to embedded counselors in all schools and colleges, including the Graduate School.

Aware of the importance of the advising relationship to graduate student well-being, the Graduate School’s new advising and mentoring initiative consists of a working group of cross-campus collaborators tasked with identifying and promoting best practices in mentoring.

The Graduate School hired a diversity, equity and inclusion faculty director to coordinate, promote and assist those efforts both within the college and in the departmental programs.