Strengths Impact Campus > Top Card > 2025-03 [UPDATE]

CliftonStrengths^®

Strengths Impact Campus for Higher Education

Colleges and universities face rising pressure to improve student retention, strengthen student belonging and show clear career readiness outcomes.

Strengths Impact Campus gives institutional leaders a structured, research-based approach to integrate CliftonStrengths across the campus. It aligns academics, student life and leadership through a shared language of talent and development.

Explore the Framework

What Is Strengths Impact Campus?

Strengths Impact Campus is Gallup’s national designation for institutions that demonstrate exceptional commitment to strengths-based learning, coaching and culture.

Gallup evaluates institutions based on adoption, student engagement, institutional outcomes and continued alignment with Gallup’s research framework.

Strengths Impact Campus provides:

clear criteria for integrating strengths across campus
a maturity framework that guides progression over time
national benchmarking against Gallup’s higher education database
annual planning and review tied to institutional goals

The designation recognizes institutions that move beyond episodic programming and build a coordinated, scalable strengths infrastructure across academics, student experience, and staff development.

The Strengths Impact Campus Model

The model outlines the stages institutions move through as strengths efforts progress from isolated initiatives to a fully integrated, campuswide strategy.

Strengths Impact Campus Model: 1: Awareness; 2: Introduction; 3: Emerging; 4: Integrated; 5: High-Performance Strengths Campus; 6: Strengths Impact Campus

Higher Education Faces Sustained Pressure

Colleges and universities are navigating enrollment volatility, retention challenges and rising expectations for career readiness and student wellbeing.

Higher education leadership is being asked to improve institutional outcomes and strengthen student success with limited resources.

Students Struggle to Stay Enrolled

38%

of bachelor’s degree students say it is “difficult” or “very difficult” to remain enrolled.

36%

of bachelor’s degree students have considered stopping out within the past six months.

55%

Among those who considered stopping out, 55% cite emotional stress as a primary reason, nearly twice as often as those to cite cost, inflation or the difficulty of coursework as reasons.

Mentorship and Strengths Change the Equation

71%

of graduates who had a mentor who helped them understand their strengths strongly agreed that their education was worth the cost.

Yet only 17% of college graduates strongly agree they had that kind of mentor.

Institutions Need a Scalable, Measurable Strategy to Improve Student Outcomes

Improving student outcomes requires institution alignment across academics, student life and leadership development using a shared framework.

A strengths strategy offers that structure, with research, benchmarks and implementation guidance that leaders can scale across the full campus experience.

The Measurable Outcomes of a Strengths Impact Campus

A strengths strategy changes outcomes for students and institutions.

Stronger Purpose and Direction

Students who frequently use strengths report higher student wellbeing, hope and confidence, especially among first-generation and underrepresented students.

According to Gallup research, students who applied strengths in four or more areas are:

2.9x

as likely to strongly agree their life is guided by a set of clear commitments

2.7x

as likely to strongly agree they know which direction they are going to follow in their life

2.2x

as likely to strongly agree their plans for the future match their true interests and values

Higher Student Wellbeing and Belonging

People who focus on using their strengths are three times as likely to report an excellent quality of life.

Graduates who had a college mentor and opportunities to apply their strengths during college are:

more than 2x as likely to be thriving in overall wellbeing

64%

more likely to be engaged in their postgraduate careers

Graduates who were emotionally supported during college are:

as likely to have thriving wellbeing after college

as likely to be attached to their alma mater

Increased Student Engagement and Career Readiness

People who focus on using their strengths are six times as likely to be engaged in their work.

Students who have taken a course that incorporated CliftonStrengths into the curriculum are:

2.3x

as likely to strongly agree they can describe how their strengths will help them excel in their career one day

29%

more likely to strongly agree they will be well-prepared for life they graduate

33%

more likely to say they can find many ways to solve problems

Stronger Perceived Value of Education

71%

Among graduates who had a mentor who helped them understand their strengths, 71% strongly agree that their undergraduate education was worth the cost.

Yet only 17% strongly agree that they had such a mentor.

Stronger Student Retention Strategies

Gallup research shows that students who frequently use their strengths are more likely to report higher levels of hope, which is a predictor of academic success and student persistence.

What Are the Criteria for Being a Strengths Impact Campus?

Strengths Impact Campuses meet clear, measurable standards that show sustained strengths integration across the student experience.

A designated campus demonstrates:

Campuswide Strengths Literacy

At least 70% of students, faculty and staff have completed the CliftonStrengths assessment. This level of participation creates a shared language across academic and co-curricular settings.

Structured Annual Touchpoints

Students engage in six or more meaningful strengths touchpoints each year across:

coursework and first-year programs
advising and coaching
career development
student life and leadership programs

Outcome Benchmarking

The institution measures belonging, engagement, wellbeing and career readiness outcomes against national benchmarks drawn from Gallup’s higher education database.

Distributed Strengths Infrastructure

The institution has a network of trained coaches and champions across curricular, co-curricular, and HR functions.

Annual Strengths Impact Plan

The institution develops and reviews a formal Strengths Impact Plan each year. Gallup data inform the plan, and institutional priorities guide it.

Built on Decades of Research. Used by Leading Institutions.

Strengths Impact Campus draws on Gallup research in human development, engagement and performance.

1,000+ colleges and universities use CliftonStrengths.

700,000+ students take the assessment each year.

70+ years of strengths research inform the framework.

Millions of individuals worldwide have used CliftonStrengths, supported by a global network of certified coaches.

The Strengths Impact Campus model translates that research into a structured, measurable institutional strategy.

Build a Strengths Impact Campus

Strengths Impact Campus establishes clear standards and measurable benchmarks for integrating strengths across the student experience and improving strategic planning in higher education.

Connect with Gallup to design your institution’s path toward becoming a Strengths Impact Campus.

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