UNI STUDENTS PREPARED FOR THE WORKFORCE
UNI is committed to providing an outstanding education through faculty and staff who are dedicated to students and through award-winning and nationally recognized programs. UNI provides students real world, hands-on experience enabling students to not only find a job after graduation, but to be able to start making an impact from day one. UNI also encourages community engagement to help prepare students to be active citizens and contributing members of their communities.
UNI faculty teach 99 percent of all classes. UNI's focus on undergraduate research allows students to work one-on-one with faculty members in their labs, on grants, and in writing journal articles; something that doesn't occur until the graduate level at other universities. Having dedicated and committed faculty enables students to become successful graduates, preparing them for their achievements in life and in the workplace.
Here's what one employer said about the quality of UNI students:
“As a public accounting firm, we are constantly in need of entry level accountants and information technology professionals that are prepared for the rigors of our profession. UNI and the individual professors do an excellent job educating on the technical (tangible) aspects of a student's chosen profession while also instilling an understanding of the important intangible aspects of that profession. UNI students come to us prepared for the real world. It is often shocking how much they understand about our industry compared to students from other universities. UNI graduates are hard-working, receptive to the continuous learning required in public accounting and respectful in their approach to interactions with fellow employees and our clients. We can't hire enough UNI students!!”Hilary McCauley | RSM US LLP | Staffing and Recruiting | Des Moines, Iowa
The UNI Difference
- UNI remains committed to its history in teacher education, graduating about 500 teacher educators per year. UNI graduates work in 98 percent of Iowa school districts and account for one-fourth of Iowa teachers and one-third of Iowa principals and superintendents. With our remodeled Schindler Education Center, we will offer state of the art educator preparation.
- UNI is dedicated to building external relationships and contributing to the vitality of Iowa. UNI's Business and Community Services provides service in all 99 counties and has reached more than 410,000 Iowans through its program and projects. As a result of their work, UNI recently won the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in Economic Development. Over 50 percent of UNI students participate in community service, and in the 2015-2016 school year, UNI faculty and students contributed almost one million hours of community service for an estimated value of $23 million*.
- Through the course of their career at UNI, students put their classroom knowledge and skills into practice. In fact, 70 percent of UNI graduates reported they completed internships, student teaching or experiential education prior to graduation. Sixty percent of UNI's programs have 100 percent success with students either employed or continuing their education within six months after graduation.
- More UNI Business graduates have earned National Association of Small Business International Trade Educator's Certified Global Business Professional credentials than any other university in the world and finance students who take our CFA review program pass the CFA Level 1 exam at a rate double the international average.
- UNI's focus on student success was recently recognized by the American Association of State Colleges and University (AASCU). AASCU awarded the Student Success and College Completion Award to UNI's course-embedded peer mentor program. The retention rate of students enrolled in one of these courses has been 6 - 8 percent higher as compared to those students who did not enroll.
*Based on Independent Sector Value of Volunteer time per hour (https://www.independentsector.org/volunteer_time)