(BIVN) – The University of Hawaiʻi system says it achieved record statewide graduation numbers this past year.

UH campuses across the state “achieved record highs in important graduation and retention metrics for the academic year 2020–21, the first full academic year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” officials say.

For the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo:

UH Hilo achieved its second-highest six-year graduation rate (42.7%) for full-time first-time students. UH Hilo also serves many transfer students and achieved a record three-year (47.5%) and four-year graduation rate (58.1%) for full-time transfer students and its highest ever four-year rate (47.9%) for part-time transfers.

Also on Hawaiʻi island, Hawai‘i Community College “achieved its highest three-year graduation rates for both full-time (36.3%) and part-time (10.4%) first-time freshmen.”

UH Mānoa “achieved the highest four-year graduation rate in history (39.7%) for full-time first-time students as well as record two-year (30.9%) and four-year (64%) graduation rates for full-time transfer-in students,” officials reported. UH West O‘ahu also set a new record in its four-year graduation rate (23%) for full-time first-time students.

President David Lassner told the UH Board of Regents on February 17 that the data points from each of the 10 campuses “give me a lot of hope.”

“Not all of these are numbers we can be satisfied with, but the fact that we are setting these records shows we are moving many numbers in the right direction on each of our campuses,” Lassner said. “We have not let COVID defeat us or our students, and we need to keep improving through and past COVID.”

“I gave you the best and the records, but almost all those numbers have a lot of room for improvement,” Lasner said. “But the fact that we’re setting the records shows we are moving all of these numbers in the right direction on each of our campuses. And we don’t get to where we want to be if we don’t continuously improve.”