Reengineering enrollment processes and closer collaboration with the academic enterprise has produced significant enrollment increases for the University of New Mexico. UNM is seeing record growth this semester, with 34,674 students enrolled for all campuses, a 5.93 percent increase over fall 2008. At the Albuquerque campus, enrollment rose by 5.75 percent to 27,304.
UNM main campus also broke records in new beginning freshman – 3,409, a 5.71 percent increase – and undergraduate transfers – 1,291, a 29.75 percent increase. There also is an increase of more than 20 percent in new graduate students, with that number climbing from 932 to 1,120.
The Enrollment Management Division at UNM has been aggressively focusing on improving services to all students and staff. The initial phase of reengineering processes began last year with recruitment and admissions, followed by financial aid and current work focusing on registration and advisement projects.
Revitalization of the recruitment plans, more robust communication to students, quicker turn-around time on application processes, and general service improvements have contributed substantially to the enrollment gains, according to information released by the Enrollment Management Division. Prospective students applied from all 50 states and more than 40 foreign countries. This signifies that the university has national and international recognition and is valued not only in our great state but also outside the state and country, said Vice President for Enrollment Management Carmen Alvarez Brown.
When asked what other factors influenced this significant change in enrollment, Alvarez Brown is quick to point out that collaborative work with the academic enterprise and the leadership and vision of President David Schmidly, Provost Suzanne Ortega and the deans have contributed to this success.
The university’s merit-based scholarship programs have attracted highly competitive students. Improvements in recruitment efforts have lead the way to a 92 percent increase (from 38 in 2008 to 73 in 2009) in national scholar enrollments including National Merit, National Achievement, National Hispanic Recognition, and the first ever class of National American Indian Scholars.
Student credit hours at main campus are up 6.52 percent to 317,377. That’s an average of 11.62 credit hours per student, a slight increase from last year’s average of 11.54 credit hours. Higher course loads are commonly thought to improve retention and graduation rates.
At branch campuses, enrollment increased as follows: Gallup is up 1.27 percent to 2,873 students, with a 10.26 percent increase in credit hours. At Los Alamos, enrollment rose seven percent to 718, with students taking 15.18 percent more credit hours. Taos increased enrollment by 7.56 percent to 1,523 students taking 15.94 percent more credit hours. Valencia saw the highest head count increase with 2,256 students, 13.48 percent more than last year, and a 14.97 percent rise in credit hours.
These figures come from the fall 2009 preliminary enrollment report as of the census date, Sept. 11.
Posted by scarr at September 22, 2009 11:45 AM