Foundations of Excellence®


Now more than ever in challenging economic times, your campus needs a strategic action plan for the critical beginning college experience. Foundations of Excellence® will yield a new vision for enhanced learning and retention of first-year and transfer students as well as priorities for resource allocation.

FoE Informational Webinars
Join the Gardner Institute staff members in an interactive, live webinar to explore how Foundations of Excellence self studies can help you reengineer your campus's approach to the first year and/or transfer student experience.

Independent Research Links Foundations of Excellence Process to Significant Gains in Retention and Revenue as Tracked Through IPEDS

An analysis of first-year retention rates for the 132 institutions that participated in the Foundations of Excellence® self-study process from 2003 through 2008.

Reports from the Field

Snapshots of the FoE Experience provided by past participants that have completed the self study

Current Year Participants

View the 2011-2012 Cohort

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, strives to improve the beginning college experience for both first year and transfer students.

Join the Conversation

2,327 participants provide their views about the FoE process…

Short on time? Take a moment to view our brief video introduction series.