Who We Are

Student Success serves as a catalyst and leader, forging meaningful connections across the university community that enable students to thrive and make a transformative difference in their academic pursuits and personal and professional development.

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Our Strategic Goals (2026–2030)

A student is advised at the Career Center

Coordinate student support from enrollment to career

Develop
Student Success will modernize advising, build proactive support systems, and integrate career-connected learning so every UNT student encounters clear pathways and consistent guidance from first enrollment through graduation. By embedding high-impact support in gateway courses and advancing a redesigned first-year curriculum, we will strengthen retention and reduce time to degree.

Our Implementation Priorities

  • Launch SMART Scheduling and establish advising standards of care: We will provide entering students with concierge-style prebuilt schedules to build first-year momentum, reduce friction, and support on-path progression. An Academic Advising Council will define institutional standards of care and guide deeper integration of career development into advising practice across all colleges. 

  • Embed high-impact academic support in gateway courses and launch coordinated academic recovery: Supplemental instruction and academic coaching will be integrated into high-DFWI courses. A comprehensive academic recovery strategy, including early alert systems, consistent intervention protocols, and faculty-advisor collaboration, will reduce early attrition and support students through academic challenges.

  • Advance a redesigned first-year curriculum and launch standardized student success reporting: A refreshed first-year curriculum will strengthen early student engagement and academic preparation. Standardized student success reports delivered at key calendar points will equip college and university leadership with timely, shared data to guide decision-making and resource allocation.

  • Build course demand analytics capacity and eliminate barriers to timely progression: We will develop analytic tools to inform course scheduling and capacity planning for academic departments. At least two process improvement initiatives per semester through August 2027 will address policies that slow students' progress toward graduation.

Core Metrics

1st to 2nd Year Retention
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 77% | UNT Target (2030): 90%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • SMART Scheduling, early alert systems, and advising standards of care build first-year momentum and reduce early attrition.
4-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 42% | UNT Target (2030): 65%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Career-integrated advising, on-path scheduling, and work-integrated learning standards help students progress efficiently toward graduation.
6-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 61% | UNT Target (2030): 80%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Sustained advising engagement, flexible completion pathways, and academic recovery interventions reduce the risk of students stopping out.
Annual R&D Expenditures
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): $124M | UNT Target (2030): $250M

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A
Doctoral Degrees Awarded
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 286 | UNT Target (2030): 300

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A
Time to Value
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 6 years | UNT Target (2030): Decrease time for programs over median

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Career-connected advising and work-integrated learning accelerate students' paths to meaningful career outcomes.

Emergent Metrics

Important Dimensions of Our Success that Require New Approaches

Post-graduation placement:
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Percentage of graduates placed in high-demand occupations or graduate and professional programs

Coordinating university-wide efforts to establish new insights on post-graduation placement outcomes and shared tracking methods.

Career-aligned learning:
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Percentage of academic programs that integrate internships, industry-sponsored projects, or other work-integrated learning experiences

Developing shared work-integrated learning standards and will track the percentage of programs embedding work-integrated learning through FY27 pilots.

Awards and recognitions:
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Prestigious awards, exhibitions, and performances achieved by our students, faculty, staff, and alumni

N/A

Innovation and entrepreneurship:
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New ventures, startups, and public impact projects launched by students, faculty, and alumni

Tracks work-integrated learning and entrepreneurship-related curricular experiences as part of WIL standard-setting work.

Student and alumni engagement:
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Perceptions of how well UNT prepares graduates to pursue lives of meaning and purpose

Developing a framework to track how well UNT prepares graduates to pursue lives of meaning and purpose.

Unit Level Metrics

  • SMART Scheduling adoption rate for entering students: Measures success of proactive scheduling tools in building first-year academic momentum and on-path progression toward graduation.