Quality of Life Survey 2022

Each year, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) administers the Quality of Life (QoL) Survey alongside the Engineering Graduate Student Council (EGSC) and Engineering Student Affairs (GSA). The intent of this survey is to gather a widely representative picture of the student opinion right now in SEAS. After a hiatus of two years, EGSC was proud to restart this crucial annual survey in 2022.

Why, you might ask, is knowing the student opinion so vital to our role as EGSC? The concrete set of data that we gather with the survey is the strongest evidence that we can bring to the SEAS Administration to advocate  or meaningful and lasting change for our student body. Below you will find a sample of initiatives, projects, and improvements that have been a direct result of the student voice that was shared in past QoL Surveys.

  • Professional Development and Leadership (PDL) for MS and PhD students
  • Later entrance and exit times at the 120 street Mudd doors.
  • Renovation of Carleton Commons
  • Career Placement Officers (CPOs) in every department under the Graduate Career Placement (GCP) Team
  • Gender neutral bathrooms
  • Counselling and Psychological Services Mudd walk-in hours
  • Baby changing stations at restrooms
  • Increased number of social events on and off campus

and many more examples. As a thank you for completing the survey, we rewarded ALL survey participants with one of the following prizes:

  • EGSC coffee mug
  • Columbia SEAS crown stickers
  • Joe Coffee gift cards
  • Tickets to the EGSC Spring Boat Cruise for the first 20 surveyees
  • Additionally, there was a raffle for a pair of Apple Airpods and three voice assistants of choice, won this year by Jennifer Sharon Antony Nelsson, Jarett Poliner, Zihao Huang and Kiran Muthigi respectively
EGSC QoLS 2022 flyer

On April 29 2022, we organized the 11th Annual SEAS Graduate Student Town Hall Meeting. At the townhall, EGSC's Vice President, Alex Parizeau, presented the results of the survey and moderated a discussion with our panelists, which included Shih-Fu Chang (Dean of Engineering), Garud Iyengar (Senior Vice Dean), Jenny Mak (Senior Associate Dean) and Shiva Letchumanan (EGSC President). The town hall was open to all graduate engineering students, who asked questions to the panelists and to other stakeholders across CU who provide services (Health, Facilities, Library, ISSO, Finance, Housing, PDL etc.). 

The survey was completely anonymous, and we only collected the list of survey takers to distribute the gifts. We worked with data analysts from outside of SEAS to interpret the results for the townhall and future advocacy.

Find the results of the 2022 Quality of Life Survey that was presented in the Town Hall.

- Your EGSC Executive Board.