Central student surveys

Student surveys are a key element in seeking feedback from students and getting information the University can use to improve services and the student experience.

Aims

• To develop a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach to surveying the student experience.
• To develop our understanding of the student experience and communicate this to the University.

Why is this important?

The University wanted to improve the way it gathered data on the student experience and to communicate findings more effectively and decided to:

• Provide a central point of contact for information on student surveying activity in the University.
• Develop additional forms of feedback from students on their university experience.
• Use the resulting data to identify opportunities to enhance the student experience.
• Assist staff in using survey results to support decision making.
• Communicate to students any actions taken as a result of surveying activity.

Key responsibilities/developments

Key areas of responsibility and development include:

• The Student Analytics and Insights Team is responsible for the main University wide student surveys. This includes responsibility for running the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and National Student Survey (NSS) and reporting on free text comments from these surveys.
• The team communicates with staff and students through the dedicated email address. This includes informing staff of survey response rates, survey updates and responding to ad-hoc queries.
•  Course Enhancement Questionnaires.
• The Student Analytics and Insights Team act as a first point of contact for those wishing to undertake surveys and coordinate Ethics Committee consideration.

For queries please email student.analytics@ed.ac.uk