Our national surveys are important mechanisms for us to gather and listen to the voices of our students, and this year, we will be taking part in the National Student Survey (NSS), UG Essex Survey and PGT Essex Survey.
I would like to highlight the important role staff in schools and departments can play in raising awareness of the surveys and encouraging our final year students to take part.
Colleagues are working incredibly hard to support the delivery of feedback mechanisms, and this year we want to make sure any effort put into survey promotion and engagement is as streamlined as possible.
So, in brief, here are some ways you can encourage your students to participate, plus some extra resources for you:
- Participation is key. While we’re aspiring to reach 75% participation for the NSS, we need to achieve the minimum of at least 50% to have our results made available to us, and published nationally on the Office for Students and Discover Uni websites which help prospective students make a decision about where to study. We will be aiming to achieve a 50% response rate for UG Essex Survey and PGT Essex Survey.
- Students’ views inform real improvements. At the University of Essex, we believe in putting student success at the heart of everything we do, and the NSS survey – plus the UG Essex Survey for first- and second-year students and PGT Essex Survey for taught postgraduates – gives us the opportunity to listen and respond, and to do things better.
- Reminding your final year students that this is an important survey for their school or department, for future students, and for the broader higher education landscape of the UK is important. Giving their views means they’re a part of something big.
- Reach out to non-final year undergraduates and postgraduates. This year we are aiming to harmonize all cohorts, and to speak with all cohorts equally. For this reason, the UG Essex Survey and PGT Essex Survey have been brought in line with the NSS. This will allow us to understand student pressures, and determine trends, which will allow us to enhance the student experience.
- It’s good to connect their participation back to their home school or department. For example, schools and departments value students’ ideas about course offerings, and feedback can underpin shorter or longer-term action plan.
- Putting students at the heart of this listening exercise means we can use their views to directly improve student satisfaction, and implement more ways to gather feedback, such as through focus groups or in-module feedback.
- We also analyse results at the wider university level to see where other issues come to light, such as issues with the library or IT services.
- The NSS, UG Essex Survey and PGT Essex Survey are anonymous forums for students to have their voices heard. Regardless of what students have to say, we’re here to listen.
Resources
Ryan and the team are already working closely with schools and departments and will be conducting briefings with them to inform about current practices, and also provide any additional guidance about available materials and bespoke strategies.
Guidance for your students
If your students have any questions about the NSS, please direct them to www.thestudentsurvey.com or they can contact the student email helpline at Ipsos, thestudentsurvey@ipsos.com. Students can also find out more information on the UG Essex Survey and PGT Essex Survey on Moodle, or email studentvoice@essex.ac.uk
Once again, thank you for all your hard work to support these important feedback mechanisms. I very much appreciate any time you can spend promoting the importance of taking part in the surveys to your students.