The education supplement of the NY TIMES 1/3/10 included a report on the National Survey of Student Engagement in 1200 college and universities. The Times reported on about 100 (visit this page, scroll down and look for heading ‘Engagement’ in the center column).
The survey examines “engagement” in significant facets of university life: time spent in preparing for class, extracurricular activity and for purposes here “quality of relationship with faculty” (helpfulness and availability).