IRVINE : UCI Rates Highly in Countywide Survey

An annual survey of Orange County residents has found that UC Irvine is both very well known and highly regarded.

The cross-sample of Orange County residents discovered that 66% feel that UCI is “doing a good job of preparing (college) students for the future.” Moreover, those surveyed said they are more familiar with UCI than either Cal State Fullerton or Chapman University.

But the poll, conducted by professor Mark Baldassare and paid for by the UCI Foundation, also found some pockets of discontent. For instance, fewer than a third of those polled think UCI is doing a good job in training teachers and improving the quality of schools from kindergarten through grade 12.

In analyzing the results of the poll, Baldassare said Orange County residents want UCI to do more to help elementary and secondary education.

“While many residents feel the campus is doing a good job today in contributing to the economy, medical care and education, they have very high expectations for its future contributions,” Baldassare said.

The public’s belief that UCI is not doing enough to help K-12 education showed up in a poll question that asked respondents how “good a job is UCI doing” in helping Orange County. The poll found that 51% gave good ratings to UCI for “providing medical care for local residents,” 50% gave UCI good marks for “developing new technologies,” 48% for “training the future work force,” 44% for “providing research expertise for local industry,” and 30% gave UCI good ratings for “training teachers and improving the quality of K-12 schools.”

UCI, however, showed up well in the public’s eyes in the vast majority of questions asked. Ninety percent of those polled said that UCI is important to future economic growth in Orange County. Also, 79% said they would recommend UCI to friends or relatives graduating from high school.

UCI officials generally expressed pleasure about the poll’s results.

“It pleases me to see that the community feels the quality of the education students receive here is superior and that we’re preparing them well to succeed in our rapidly changing world,” said UCI Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening.

The telephone survey was conducted between Aug. 20 and 29 and polled 1,007 adult residents of Orange County. It was conducted by Baldassare, chairman of urban and regional planning in the UCI School of Social Ecology, and his research associate Cheryl Katz. The margin of error in the poll is plus or minus 3%.