AUSTIN, Texas — The Steve Hicks School of Social Work has the highest four-year graduation rate (83 percent) of all colleges and schools at The University of Texas at Austin, according to the most recent data published by the university’s Institutional Reporting, Research, and Information Systems.
Allan Cole, senior associate dean for academic affairs in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, told the Daily Texan that the school uses its advising process and summer courses to help students stay on track towards a four-year graduation.
“We have a very high-touch advising process, so every student in our program works with our advisers every semester,” Cole said. “We’re also offering more of our courses, both elective and required, in the summers, so students can take advantage of summers in ways that had previously not been the case. We really do try to keep students on track, and we work to the best of our ability to make that happen.”
“I am very thankful to Allan Cole, who has ensured that our school responds flexibly and as needed to students according to their progress. And we all know that part of this success is due to our undergraduate program coordinator, Alexis George, who meets with students at the beginning of each semester and maps out a plan of work for future semesters,” said Luis H. Zayas, dean of the school.
The university’s data shows a steep increase in social work four-year graduation rates between 2012 (67 percent) and 2013 (83 percent). It also shows that five-year graduation rates decreased from 82 percent in 2011 to 73 percent in 2012.
