“By study and by faith” is a phrase students hear often at BYU. For many freshmen, that idea begins to take shape in a class called BYU Foundations for Student Success, or UNIV 101.
The university’s introductory seminar has become central to the first-year experience since its launch in 2024. While its structure mirrors similar courses across the country, UNIV 101 emphasizes disciple-scholarship, spiritual identity and covenant belonging. These elements set BYU’s program apart as it enters its second year.
The UNIV 101 class was inspired by a nationwide increase in concern regarding student success and rising college dropout rates.
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has conducted research for more than a decade on how participation in high-impact practices (HIPs) influences student success.
Examples of HIPs tracked by NSSE include community-based service learning, research with faculty, studying abroad, learning communities, internships or field experiences and culminating senior projects.
Through its research, NSSE found that “students who take part in a HIP experience have higher levels of engagement during college, greater levels of deep learning and greater gains in learning and personal development.”
George Kuh, founding director of NSSE, recommended students participate in two HIPs, one of which should be in their first year of college.
Research by NSSE concluded that “College environments characterized by positive interpersonal relations promote student learning and success."
Its findings showed that students who had supportive relationships with faculty, staff, advisors and peers were better equipped to find assistance when needed and learn from those around them.
The objectives of UNIV 101 align with these initiatives.
The course is taught in small sections capped at 25 students, allowing students to receive individual attention from their professor and an assigned peer mentor.
The curriculum, designed by the Undergraduate Education office at BYU, has five parts:
1. Envisioning BYU
2. Belonging in the BYU community
3. Developing as disciple-scholars
4. Helping and being helped by others
5. Reflection
The BYU General Education website states, “The course helps students practice deliberate reflection, intellectual humility, peacemaking and civil discourse, curiosity, and a repentant mindset focused on growth.”
The first pilot version of this course ran in Winter Semester 2023, with subsequent trials during spring, summer and fall of that year.
The first time all first-year students were required to take the course was in the Winter Semester 2024, but the first large-scale enrollment for UNIV 101 occurred in the fall of that year, with approximately 5,600 students enrolled.
The learning outcomes for the course cover the BYU mission and aims, campus resources, disciple-scholarship and belonging.
Rachel Gardner, a sophomore at BYU, took UNIV 101 during the Fall 2024 semester.
Gardner said she assumed the class would be an overview of campus resources and the logistical aspects of college life, but she found the class had a greater impact than expected.
“The community that we built was really awesome,” Gardner said. “It helped me feel like I belong at BYU.”
Gardner said she still stays in contact with the students from her UNIV cohort and her professor.
Dacie Sorenson, a freshman currently enrolled in UNIV 101, also found UNIV to be a source of connection.
“My professor and my peer mentor in that class, I feel like I can ask them any questions I have,” Sorenson said. “I feel like that’s the main point of UNIV, to just kind of give you a good friend group, a good support base of other people.”
BYU is not the only university to implement a first-year experience like UNIV 101.
Loyola University Chicago has introduced a course almost identical to UNIV 101, which they call “University 101: First-Year Seminar." This class is a one-credit, pass/no pass orientation course for all first-year students.
University 101 at Loyola has similar objectives as UNIV 101, including a focus on achieving success, participating in campus activities, connecting with resources and reflecting on goals to create an achievement plan.
The University of Wisconsin offers First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs) for incoming students. FIGs are seminar courses capped at 20 students that cover a range of over 60 unique topics.
In these groups, students take multiple classes with their cohort on a topic of their interest and participate in activities such as group study sessions, field trips and themed events.
Colorado College and Tulane University also have first-year seminar courses designed for new students.
Bates College offers special resources for international and first-generation students during their first year.
While other universities are implementing first-year classes and seminars, UNIV 101 contains a unique focus uncommon among other universities: teaching the principles of disciple-scholarship.
Michael Whitchurch, a BYU librarian preparing to teach UNIV 101 for the first time this semester, said he believes the course’s focus on seeking truth aligns with the greater mission of BYU.
“Those two credits are possibly the most important two credits of their education at BYU, ” Whitchurch said. “BYU is not just an education for work, it’s an education for life."
Michael Searcy, a UNIV 101 professor at BYU, said the integration of religious principles with academic learning is what makes it such a unique class to teach.
“What BYU has in opposition to a lot of other universities is a spiritual aspect … It is a full integration of spiritual and secular learning. One doesn’t go without the other,” Searcy said.
Scott Church, a professor who teaches UNIV 101, said the religious principles taught in the course lead to deeper connections between students and faculty.
“That common place of being invested and trying to live as the best disciple one can be, really connects all of you,” Church said. “That extra spiritual element is just that, that’s the best part.”
Jonathan Sandberg, associate dean of undergraduate education, said UNIV 101 is set apart from other first-year programs because of its focus on covenant belonging.
“Helping students understand the mission of BYU, create covenant belonging, and then understand the resources that the campus community has for them to succeed helps create these disciple scholars, which is the goal," Sandberg said.
Sandberg said UNIV 101 is a high priority for university leadership, millions of dollars have been invested in the program and President Reese himself teaches a section of the class every winter semester.
The influence of UNIV 101 is expected to grow steadily as the program develops and becomes more established in the BYU experience.
Sandberg said the success of UNIV 101 is tracked through surveys, focus groups and feedback from faculty members, students and peer mentors.
“We measure a lot of things that help students succeed, and by all indicators, it’s really having remarkable success,” Sandberg said.
Some recent curriculum changes include a great focus on practical skills (such as financial success, time management and test-taking) and restructuring lessons to build more clearly toward disciple-scholarship.
Sandberg said he expects UNIV 101 will continue to help students transition into college life and set them up for success.
He hopes the course helps students understand the unique mission of BYU and their responsibility to participate in lifelong learning and service.
“I think it will have the biggest impact on their view of why they’re getting an education at BYU, the purpose, and then also help them to succeed academically, emotionally, socially, much more quickly," Sandberg said.
Cory Clay, a peer mentor for first-year students, said he has seen minor changes made to the course, but the overall mission has remained intact.
"I’m sure that they’re going to be adding improvement and changing things, but overall, it’s roughly the same class with the same goals of helping students make friends and really understand," Clay said.
With its focus on disciple-scholarship, spiritual identity and covenant belonging, UNIV 101 is carving out a distinct role in BYU’s first-year experience.
By weaving together academic preparation and spiritual purpose, the program seeks to ground new students in the same ideals that have shaped BYU for generations, including an education designed to last far beyond their time studying beneath Y Mountain.
