The University of Massachusetts, starting in the spring, will seek to convey performance across its five campuses by issuing a report card that will be available to the public on-line and in booklet form, UMass president Robert L. Caret announced today.

The initiative mimics a report card in style, with letter grades or symbols for different categories. It was inspired by a similar initiative Caret implemented while he headed Towson University in Maryland from 2006- 2011, university officials said.