AUGUSTA – People associate the University of Maine System with a quality education and good value, but don’t realize that part of its mission is to help improve the state’s economy and prepare students for community involvement, according to a survey presented to the board of trustees Sunday.

Intended to gauge public perceptions of Maine’s public universities, the poll will be used to target improvements and to help further develop a strategic plan that trustees expect to consider at their May meeting. The poll also will be used to help promote student recruitment, increase public awareness and increase public- and private-sector investment.

Those surveyed made the distinction between the University of Maine – the system’s flagship campus – and the University of Maine System, “which is encouraging,” said UMS spokesman John Diamond during the first part of the two-day trustees’ meeting that was held at the University of Maine at Augusta. But there was confusion over whether the University of Maine had a role in administering programs at other campuses.

In addition, people perceived that there was a problem with transferring credits among the seven-campus system, an issue that has resurfaced again and again over the years.

For the poll, 52 adults over age 18 – some with degrees and some without – participated in “focus group” sessions held across Maine last month. No current university system students were involved. The meetings were conducted by a Portland marketing group hired for $30,000 after a competitive bid process last summer.

According to the survey, people felt the system compares favorably with other states, with only two saying they wouldn’t consider sending their child to a UMS campus. Diamond said those two indicated they wanted their children to attend school outside the state to get a new perspective.

During the 90-minute group discussions, people were asked, among other things, the image that comes to mind when they hear the name of a particular campus, the strengths and weaknesses of each campus, the biggest problems facing the system and the improvements they’d recommend.

In addition, telephone surveys of 600 adults from across Maine and of another 600 high school juniors and seniors and parents were conducted last month. Students were asked, among other things, what would motivate them to attend a higher institution in the state while parents were asked about the barriers that would prevent them from sending their child to an in-state university or college. The results of those polls haven’t been compiled yet, Diamond said.

In addition, legislators, businesspeople, teachers and guidance counselors will be asked, both in person and through telephone interviews, about their perceptions of the university system’s quality and attractiveness.

“All the information is critical to us to understand whether we’re meeting the public’s expectations and needs,” Diamond said.

Responses so far indicate that the system must “establish its identity better with the public and be clearer about the role it plays as a coordinating entity versus the role played by the individual universities,” he said.

He said the public may not have known about the system’s relationship with the economy because it’s only been in the last five or six years that the system has “elevated its profile of its connection with economic development and because we haven’t had a critical mass of benefits” that people would recognize. While business spin-offs from university research will eventually develop, “there’s a disconnect now,” he said.

The university must continue to emphasize that economic development is part of its mission during discussions with the Legislature and with community service organizations, he said.

In addition, the system should make more of an effort to showcase the connection between education and graduates’ leadership roles in the community, he said. Incorporating community service and service learning into each university’s curriculum also will help the public understand that many community leaders are UMS alumni.