The National Student Survey (NSS) is an online activity conducted every year from January to April at the national level since 2005. All publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in UK participate in the survey. The survey has been commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which has a statutory role in ensuring the quality of teaching in higher education. It believes that students’ views are an important part of the assessment of institutions of higher education. The survey is fully supported by the National Union of Students (NUS). Final year undergraduate students are eligible to provide feedback on their courses in a nationally recognised format. There are 22 questions, relating to the following aspects of the student learning experiences:
1. Teaching on Course 2. Assessment and Feedback
3. Academic Support 4. Organisation and Management
5. Learning Resources 6. Personal Development
7. Overall satisfaction.
It takes less than five minutes to fill the questionnaire and the students are also given the opportunity to write positive and/or negative comments on their learning experiences as a whole at their institutions. Nearly one million students have participated in the survey since 2005 and 82% students are satisfied with their experience. The survey is administered by www.ipsos-mori.com an independent market research agency. The agency keeps the students’ responses confidential. The data collected is published in the form of statistical summaries on http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/ . This data is used by prospective students and advisors to choose the best institutions and courses available. The data is also used by the institutions to facilitate best practices and to enhance student learning experiences. The anonymous comments are used to identify the areas of weaknesses of the institution and to take corrective measures to improve in the future.
The University of Sussex is one of the participating institutions in UK. Its students have already started sending their learning experiences to the agency. The decision to keep the library open for 24 hours was taken by the University based on the earlier feedback.
I think this is something, we in the College, can start doing straightaway from this year itself. We can give these questionnaires to 12th standard, all TY and PGDC and MA/MSc final year students and get their feedback. We can analyse this and post it on our website. Let us not wait for anyone else to do this for us. We will start this year itself.
ReplyDeletei agree with this, where can we find a copy of this questionnaire?
ReplyDeleteUmaji
Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteThis is something which is required to impart quality education. Sir I have a PDF of the questionnare as we had downloaded it as one of the task of Vision core committee...i'l mail a copy to you and Sir Umaji.
The format is good but i think we can use it only for improvising our system and not to grade our institution with others as comparison can be made if it is made mandatory for all colleges. Probably in UK it is seen as one of the means by which prospective student judges the best institute to register at...We can use the format in place of the usual "assessment questionare' that we currently follow which cannot give a quantifiable judgement unlike the one in UK.
Regards
Nandini
Please visit the site- http://www.thestudentsurvey.com
ReplyDeleteThe survey will help us in improving the system in our college.