FAEIS Newsletter

September 28, 2006

In This Issue

• Letter from Dr. Jeffrey Gilmore
• 2006 FAEIS Surveys Open Oct 16th
• New for 2006 - Annual College Enrollment Survey
• 2004/2005 Student Data Summaries
• Order a CD
• Coming Soon - FAEIS International Database

Welcome to the FAEIS newsletter. To read more about FAEIS, click here.

Greetings from Washington:

I wish to extend my thanks to the many members of the agricultural, natural resources, food, and consumer and human sciences communities who have faithfully submitted data to the FAEIS system over the last four years.

Four year ago, FAEIS transitioned from a paper-based to a web-based system that we hoped would be easier for everyone to use. While the initial learning process was a bit challenging, we listened to users on how to improve the system and made the necessary changes. All of us at USDA hope you like what you see, find FAEIS useful, and will continue to provide us with suggestions for future improvements. The FAEIS staff at Virginia Tech has done a tremendous job helping make the transition from Texas A&M as smooth as possible, and they continue to provide program enhancements and increased functionality.

As you are probably aware, the information collected through FAEIS is valuable and unique. It is the only source of information on agricultural, natural resources, food, and consumer and human sciences available in electronic format. It provides data on enrollment, degrees awarded, and faculty information (and for those of you who collect such information, it also provides student placement data). And, through the FAEIS web page, you can follow links to other sources of higher education information (including grant programs and teaching awards at USDA).

The FAEIS information is valuable to us here in Washington where we frequently are requested by the White House to report on the status of the field, the number of graduates, and the areas of expertise needed in the workforce. We also use these data for reports to other Federal agencies, colleges and universities, the Congress, and the general public as well.

If you do not currently participate, I encourage you to look at the FAEIS web site (http://faeis.usda.gov) and review the many available on-line reports. These reports, as good as they are, still could be improved by the addition of data from your institution. The FAEIS system is only as good as its participants and the information they provide. Won't you please help us and your colleagues across the country?

Thanks to those of you who have continued to provide rich and valuable data - We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey L. Gilmore, Ph.D.
Director, Higher Education Programs
U.S. Department of Agriculture

The 2006 FAEIS Surveys will open for data entry on October 16, 2006, with the following components:

• Fall Enrollment - 2006
• Degrees Awared - 2006
• Placement of Graduates - 2006
• Annual Faculty Survey
• Annual College Survey (new) - see below

To access the surveys, go to the FAEIS Home Page and click on "DATA ENTRY LOGIN".

You have plenty of time to complete your surveys.

The FAEIS office will conduct an annual phone survey to obtain the total enrollment for each college at each institution participating in FAEIS. These numbers will encompass all degree programs in your college.

Every year the FAEIS office prepares reports that summarize student data collected in the latest survey. Summaries of the fall 2005 enrollment data, and the 2004/2005 degrees awarded and placement data are organized by Program Area, Institution Type and Degree Level. The data are displayed by Disciplines, Gender and Ethnicity. There are over 200 tables summarizing the data from the 2004/2005 student surveys.

The reports can be viewed online or we can send you a CD with all the reports. To view the reports, look in the Reports section of the FAEIS website under "Student Surveys 2004-05 Summaries".

You can also create custom reports from the student and faculty data using the Custom Report Builder. You'll need a FAEIS ID for this.

To obtain a FAEIS ID, or for help obtaining data and creating reports, contact the FAEIS Help Desk.

FAEIS data summaries are also available on CD. To order a CD, contact the Help Desk with your request and mailing address.

FAIES will soon collect data on international education. The survey will be beta tested in early 2007.

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