A NSSE consortium is a group of at least five colleges or universities that participate during the same NSSE administration and explore a topic of mutual interest either by coordinating the use of Topical Modules and/or appending a set of customized questions.

Consortia typically form around a shared institutional mission (e.g., urban or religiously affiliated institutions), a topic of mutual interest (e.g., sustainability), via membership in a higher education association (e.g., AAUDE), or are part of a state or multi-campus system.

Participation Benefits

Participating in a consortium adds another dimension to NSSE results by providing an opportunity to gather information of local interest. Historically, the primary benefit of consortium participation was the ability to append a customized set of questions to the core survey. Since the introduction of NSSE’s Topical Modules in 2013, however, an increasing number of consortium members have preferred to coordinate NSSE’s Topical Modules instead of a customized set of questions. In response to institutional feedback, several changes to consortium participation have been introduced. Beginning with NSSE 2019, consortium coordinators may elect from among several options:

• Establish a comparison group comprised of consortium participants
• Coordinate the use of up to two Topical Modules
• Coordinate the use of a customized question set (subject to review by NSSE staff)
• Coordinate the use of one Topical Module and one customized question set