National Student Survey

What Worcester students said and how the University is making use of student feedback

The University of Worcester values the views of its students and makes use of a variety of forms of student feedback to improve what we do. One important source of feedback is the National Student Survey, which is an annual survey of final year undergraduates at all UK Universities and Colleges about their learning and teaching experiences.

We have gathered together on this page some of the key National Student Survey 2011 results and also information about how feedback informs the action we take to improve the student experience. It includes some of the things that students have said we are doing well and it also shows some of the things students asked us to improve and what we did in response.

According to feedback from the National Student Survey 2011:

  • Worcester staff are good at explaining things and are enthusiastic about what they are teaching
  • Worcester courses help students to improve their career prospects
  • Worcester staff are easy to contact when students need assistance
  • Worcester IT resources are easy to access when students need them
  • Worcester courses help students to improve communication skills and present themselves with confidence
  • As a result of their studies students say that they feel more confident in tackling unfamiliar problems.

Overall satisfaction at Worcester fo the 2011 graduates was high at 84%, above the average for higher education institutions in England. A significant number of courses and subject areas scored particularly well overall, improving on scores from last year. These included courses in Biological Science, Geography, and Archaeology; Education Studies and Early Childhood Studies; courses in English, History, Psychology, Sociology, Sport, and Social Welfare. Nursing and Initial Teacher Training also have very high satisfaction scores.

You can find out more about the results for different subjects on the UNISTATS website.

What students said they thought we could improve and what we have done in response:

Here are some of the actions we have taken mainly as a result of the 2009 and 2010 National Student Surveys, together with other student feedback, and how we intend to make further improvements based on the 2011 feedback.

 

Improved access to library, study spaces and learning resources

  • The City campus is now fully functioning, and we have continued the on-going refurbishment programme at St John’s campus; this includes improvements to the Students’ Union building, restaurant and coffee shops.
  • The availability of study spaces has significantly increased with the opening of the City campus in 2010 and Riverside in September 2011, which has social learning space for 140 students.
  • Both campuses now have plasma screens indicating the number of study spaces that are free.
  • In the last three years, installations/upgrades have been made to provide a total of 61 new or improved teaching spaces with up-to-date audio/visual equipment.
  • The introduction of 24 hour access to parts of the Peirson Building has greatly increased access to resources.
  • Key texts in e-book format are being purchased whenever they’re available, so that all students on a module are ensured access to them. We’ve increased our e-book range tenfold to over 7000 titles.
  • ICT services for students have improved: for e-mail, all students will have a 10GB Microsoft Live mailbox; for File Storage, all students will have a new 25GB Windows Live SkyDrive, replacing the existing 150MB ‘G’ Drive.
  • It is now easier to search for resources – ‘Get it’ at Worcester has made it easier to search journals. A new service to be introduced this year will allow simultaneous searching across books, journals and web-based resources.
  • The new library catalogue, currently being introduced, provides a modern, clean, flexible ‘Amazon- like’ interface which allows users to more easily navigate through searches.
  • The University is looking forward to the Hive opening in September 2012, which will be a learning resource (and much more) for both the University and the wider community.

 

Prompt feedback on student work that supports student development

  • A good practice guide for staff on giving effective feedback has been produced and together with a guide to help students make constructive use of feedback.
  • It has been clarified to both staff and students that feedback on assignments should be available within 20 working days.
  • From 2011/12 most subjects and most staff will be providing feedback on assignments electronically, and we are piloting electronic submission in a number of subjects.
  • Institutes are making it easier for students to arrange to pick up marked assignments outside of the designated times.
  • The re-assessment period in 2011 was brought forward, so that students could get advice from staff in June and July; as a result more students passed more modules and progressed to the next year of their course.
  • For 2011/12, first year students will have more time to meet with their academic tutors to discuss progress.

 

Improvements to the organisation and management of courses

  • A University-wide code of practice on communicating class cancellations has been established, and a system is set up to enable us to text students if there are last minute changes or cancellations to their timetable.
  • Plasma screens have been introduced on both campuses to provide information about where classes are located.
  • Working with the Students’ Union, we have made sure all courses have Student Academic Representatives (StARs) who attend course management committees to represent the student viewpoint; StARs are asked to also identify areas for improvement, and the system is designed to encourage two-way communication.
  • From 2011/12 we will have student representation on the panels that review the quality of courses.

 

Clarification of how student views are acted upon

  • This page has been created for students!
  • The approach to module evaluation has been strengthened ensuring that module outlines include statements on how the previous year’s evaluations were acted upon.
  • The student representation system (StARs) has been considerably developed. Last year there were over 500 StARs. For 2011 we will be working with the Students’ Union to further develop training and communications. The StARs system is making a real difference.
  • A student survey was carried out at the University in 2011 – the results are currently being analysed – watch this space for the results and feedback.
  • For 2011/12 we are introducing opportunities for StARS to meet with the Vice Chancellor to feedback students’ views.
  • StARs can expect that NSS results for their course/subject are discussed at course management committees.