Survey

In 2017 the Cal Alumni Association (CAA), in collaboration with UC Berkeley, conducted a survey of our alumni community in an effort to better understand and serve alumni.

Survey Summary

All UC Berkeley undergraduate- and graduate-degree holders (in 2017, just under half a million alumni) were invited to participate in the survey. Email invitations were sent to more than 176,000 alumni for whom the university has a valid email address and who have elected to receive email communication from the university. Approximately 23,000 alumni (13%) responded, reflecting on their education and experiences at Cal, reporting on their careers and interests, sharing perspectives on current programs and services, and providing input for future directions.

Survey Respondents

Survey Respondent

The respondent pool was comprised of 53% men and 47% women; 68% undergraduate degrees and 32% graduate degrees, with 9% of respondents holding dual degrees; and 71% residents of California.

Data collected through the Cal Alumni Survey provides critical, timely feedback from a representative segment of the Cal alumni community. This briefing note shares key survey results, and describes the survey's goals, structure, and content.

Survey Goals

The primary purpose of the Cal Alumni Survey is to obtain alumni feedback on alumni programs, services, image, and mission-related outcomes for CAA as well as for the university. Response data is used to inform current and future alumni programming, fundraising, and communications efforts. Results are also compared to survey response data from previous years to provide insight into changing sentiments and preferences among the alumni community, as well as benchmark progress toward mission-based goals.

In addition, the university can use response data from questions related to students’ learning outcomes to inform and refine curriculum and academic programs.