Analysis of a student satisfaction exit survey of a graduate data analytics program

Program and curriculum evaluation have been a major focus in higher education. Course and program Outcomes Assessment has been the de-facto standard of practice for determining the overall effectiveness of knowledge transfer. However, there is a point of debate as to who should be doing Outcomes Assessment, and how it should be done. The current research is a review of responses from an exit survey of graduating students (n=221) in a Master’s level program. Responses to specific exit survey questions were studied in an effort to assess the degree of student satisfaction with a Master’s level program in Data Analytics. Responses to open-ended questions were also examined for key words in order to identify the more technical aspects of the M.S. in Data Analytics program that may be lacking (in regard to curriculum content and software tools specifically required or expected by industry). The current curriculum was also compared to model Data Science and Analytics curricula recommended by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).