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The Undergraduate Experience Over the past few years, the University of Florida has expanded its undergraduate
enrollment to increase access for the people of this state and to grow the university to full size. We are now about the sixth largest undergraduate
university in the country, and the restructuring of the State University System shifts the effort to increase undergraduate access to our colleague
institutions. This stabilization of our undergraduate enrollment at about 33,000 students refocuses our attention from the challenge of accommodating
ever-larger numbers of students to the opportunity of further improving our undergraduates' experience. This process of continuous improvement and
enhancement represents a long-standing effort to which we can now devote our full attention.
Student academic opportunities define the undergraduate experience at the University of Florida. We exist to deliver an exceptional quality
undergraduate education that prepares our students to compete against the best graduates anywhere, whether in advanced graduate studies or the
workforce. Our curriculum, already filled with many opportunities in a wide range of fields, will become even more flexible as the faculty continue to
develop interdisciplinary options for undergraduate majors in such fields as molecular biology or Latin American Studies. Our students continue to
arrive with better preparation and college credits accumulated in high school.
Many undergraduates welcome advanced programs that combine their undergraduate curriculum with graduate courses earning a Bachelor's and Master's
degree in five years. The faculty will expand the range of combined degree programs in the colleges to support our students' interest and outstanding
preparation. The highly successful undergraduate research program that currently involves almost 5,000 students a year will create even more
opportunities for our undergraduates to benefit from the exceptional research productivity of the faculty and the growing graduate student population.
Summer undergraduate research scholarships and research symposia along with an undergraduate research journal will respond to the extraordinary quality,
capabilities and expectations of our students.
The value of a college education at the University of Florida comes not only from the primary success in the classroom but also from the multiple
reinforcement of an active and engaged campus life. Famous as we are for the dynamic commitment of our students to the quality of campus activities, the
university must continue to improve and enhance the quality and the opportunities for engagement outside of the classroom. Traditional activities such
as intramural sports and club sports, Greek organizations and service clubs, and a rich collection of other student organizations, create the multiple
communities that deliver the benefits of this large and resource intensive campus to its students. We need to develop, refine, and improve these
opportunities so that more and more students engage in the organizational and programmatic activities that translate into the creativity and leadership
and management skills so important to their future success.
Throughout all of our campus, the technological revolution sweeping the nation helps us achieve many of these goals for our students. The
undergraduate computer requirement and the free e-mail and Internet access provided everyone on our campus has begun to create the interactive campus
network of conversations and interactions possible with this technology. Student, faculty and organizational Web sites; the development of campus
Intranet discussion groups; e-mail instant response time for faculty and students; and the tremendous convenience of electronic registration and course
planning all help connect the many parts of this incredibly rich campus together.
The promise of the new technology is not its power, although it is powerful, but its capability that permits us to configure and reconfigure the
university's many resources to focus on each individual student. It lets students easily construct their personal web of connections, information and
resources that reinforces their academic and personal aspirations. We no longer need rigid predefined boxes into which each student must fit. We can
have a campus rich in academic resources and people connected in a flexible and individualized way for each student.
As we continue to focus on the enhancement of our academic environment and the expansion of our campus opportunities, we will see a constant
improvement in the undergraduate experience at the University of Florida. Being a Florida Gator will just get better and better.
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