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FSSE Overview
FSSE 2025 Overview
The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) complements the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). FSSE (pronounced “fessie”) measures faculty members’ contributions to student engagement in educational practices that are empirically linked with high levels of learning and development. The survey also collects information about how faculty members spend their time on professorial activities, such as teaching and scholarship, and what kinds of learning experiences their institutions emphasize.
FSSE results can be used to identify areas of institutional strength, as well as aspects of the undergraduate experience that may warrant attention. The information can be a catalyst for productive discussions related to teaching, learning, and the quality of students’ experiences.
This overview provides general information about the institutions and faculty members that participated in this year’s FSSE administration. First, we compare the characteristics of FSSE-participating institutions to those of NSSE-participating institutions and the U.S. profile of bachelor’s-granting institutions. We then compare the characteristics of FSSE respondents to those of faculty members at U.S. bachelor’s-granting institutions and provide general information about response rates. Resources intended to help with the use of FSSE data are also on the FSSE website.
FSSE 2025 Institutions and Respondents
In the 2025 administration of FSSE, 6,311 faculty members responded from 62 bachelor’s-granting colleges and universities in the United States. All participating institutions select their own faculty samples. Faculty members were sent email invitations asking them to respond to the online survey.
Nearly all FSSE institutions (57) also administered NSSE to their students in 2025; the remainder administered NSSE in previous years (2024 and 2023). Having recent data from NSSE allows participating institutions to examine how faculty members and students respond to similar questions.
Institutions could choose to add Topical Modules and consortium items to the end of the core FSSE instrument. The module Academic Advising was appended by 32 institutions; Transferable Skills, Career, and Workforce Development by 16; and Inclusiveness and Engagement with Cultural Diversity by 13 institutions. Fewer institutions appended Experiences with Writing (7), Teaching Professional Development (6), Civic Engagement (5), Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (4), or consortium questions (3). Institutions could append up to two modules or a module and a set of consortium questions.
Tables 1 through 3 on the following pages provide more information about the participating institutions and faculty members who responded to the survey in the US.
Profile of FSSE 2025 Institutions
FSSE 2025 institutions were similar in many ways to the profile of U.S. bachelor’s-granting colleges and universities, while differing in a few respects (Table 1). Although slight differences exist between these profiles, the distribution of institutions reflects a wide range of U.S. institutions, which helps ensure that FSSE results represent a broad cross-section of U.S. faculty members.
Table 1. Profile of FSSE and NSSE 2025 U.S. Institutions and All U.S. Bachelor’s‐Granting Institutions
| Institution Characteristics | FSSE 2025 (%) | NSSE 2025 (%) | U.S. (%) |
| Carnegie Basic Classification | |||
| Doctoral Universities (Very high research activity) | 5 | 5 | 9 |
| Doctoral Universities (High research activity) | 16 | 10 | 8 |
| Doctoral/Professional Universities | 10 | 16 | 11 |
| Master's Colleges and Universities (Larger programs) | 24 | 25 | 20 |
| Master's Colleges and Universities (Medium programs) | 11 | 13 | 11 |
| Master's Colleges and Universities (Smaller programs) | 5 | 8 | 9 |
| Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts & Sciences Focus | 10 | 12 | 14 |
| Baccalaureate Colleges—Diverse Fields | 19 | 12 | 18 |
| Control | |||
| Public | 55 | 42 | 34 |
| Private | 45 | 58 | 66 |
| Undergraduate Enrollment | |||
| Fewer than 1,000 | 11 | 13 | 25 |
| 1,000–2,499 | 29 | 32 | 31 |
| 2,500–4,999 | 24 | 23 | 16 |
| 5,000–9,999 | 21 | 18 | 11 |
| 10,000–19,999 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| 20,000 or more | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Region | |||
| New England | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Mid East | 16 | 16 | 17 |
| Great Lakes | 8 | 15 | 15 |
| Plains | 13 | 10 | 10 |
| Southeast | 34 | 27 | 26 |
| Southwest | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Rocky Mountains | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Far West | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Outlying Areas | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Locale | |||
| City | 52 | 44 | 49 |
| Suburban | 16 | 26 | 24 |
| Town | 27 | 25 | 20 |
| Rural | 5 | 4 | 8 |
Notes: Percentages are based on U.S. postsecondary institutions that award baccalaureate degrees and belong to one of the eight Carnegie classifications in the table. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. U.S. percentages are based on the 2023 IPEDS Institutional Characteristics data. For information on Basic Carnegie Classification, see https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu.
Profile of FSSE 2025 Respondents
Tables 2 and 3 show selected characteristics of the U.S. faculty who completed FSSE 2025 alongside those of the faculty population at all U.S. bachelor’s-granting institutions. Percentages for the U.S. bachelor’s-granting population are based on the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
New in 2023, the FSSE survey asked an expansive gender identity question, which permitted faculty to select all gender identities that applied. Of the available gender identities, 51% of faculty selected woman and 42% selected man. Smaller proportions of faculty (less than 2% each) identified as agender or gender neutral, demigender, genderqueer or genderfluid, non-binary, or gender non-conforming, two-spirit, cis/cisgender, trans/transgender, questioning or unsure, or another gender identity.
Faculty were also asked an expansive sexual identity question, which permitted them to select all sexual identities that applied. Of the available sexual identities, 82% of faculty selected straight or heterosexual. Smaller proportions of faculty (less than 3% each) identified as bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, pansexual or polysexual, ace, gray, or asexual, demisexual, questioning or unsure, and another sexual orientation.
New in 2025, faculty were asked about the highest level of education completed by their parent(s), guardian(s), or those who raised them at the time faculty earned their undergraduate degree. They were additionally asked about having a disability or condition that impacts their learning, working, or living activities and allowed to further specify any such disabilities or conditions.
Table 2. Characteristics of FSSE 2025 Respondents and Faculty Population at All U.S. Bachelor’s‐Granting Institutions
| Respondent Characteristics | FSSE 2025 Respondents (%) | U.S. Bachelor's-Granting Population (%) |
| Racial/Ethnic Identification | ||
| Asian | 7 | 9 |
| Black or African American | 7 | 8 |
| Hispanic, Latina/o, Latine, or Latinx | 4 | 7 |
| Indigenous, American Indian, Native American, or Alaska Native | 1 | < 1 |
| Middle Eastern or North African | 6 | -- |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 1 | < 1 |
| White | 61 | 68 |
| Another race or ethnicity | 1 | -- |
| Multiracial | 4 | 2 |
| Preferred not to respond | 9 | 6 |
| Employment Status | ||
| Full-time | 79 | 57 |
| Part-time | 21 | 43 |
| Rank of Full-Time Faculty | ||
| Professor | 29 | 28 |
| Associate Professor | 25 | 24 |
| Assistant Professor | 23 | 26 |
| Instructor or Lecturer | 18 | 17 |
| Other | 4 | 6 |
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. |
Table 3. Percentage of Faculty by Disciplinary Area
| Disciplinary Area | FSSE (%) | U.S. (%) |
| Arts and Humanities | 24 | 18 |
| Biological Sciences, Agriculture, and Natural Resources | 7 | 5 |
| Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science | 11 | 9 |
| Social Sciences | 12 | 10 |
| Business | 10 | 7 |
| Communications, Media, and Public Relations | 3 | 2 |
| Education | 8 | 8 |
| Engineering | 6 | 4 |
| Health Professions | 10 | 24 |
| Social Service Professions | 2 | 3 |
| Other disciplines (not categorized) | 7 | 10 |
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
FSSE distributions based on 6,082 U.S. respondents from these disciplinary areas.
U.S. percentages are from the 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics and are based on faculty at U.S. postsecondary institutions that award bachelor’s degrees.
FSSE distributions based on 6,082 U.S. respondents from these disciplinary areas.
U.S. percentages are from the 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics and are based on faculty at U.S. postsecondary institutions that award bachelor’s degrees.
Response Rates
A response rate is the number of respondents divided by the number of faculty members contacted, adjusted for sample members who could not be reached (usually because of incorrect email addresses). In 2025, 16% of invited faculty responded to the survey. The response rate of individual institutions ranged from 3% to 53%, while the average was 21%.
Checking Data Quality
An essential early step in reviewing a campus’s results is comparing the respondent demographic profile with institutional data on faculty. The more closely the characteristics match, the more confidence an institution can have that respondents represent the faculty surveyed.
Another way to gauge data quality is through sampling error, an estimate of the margin by which the “true” score for an institution on a given item could differ from the reported score for one or more reasons, such as differences in important characteristics between respondents and the population. For example, if 60% reply “Very often” to a particular item and the sampling error is +/- 4%, there is a 95% chance that the true value is between 56% and 64%.
