National Student Survey 2010 and UoM Taught Student Survey 2010
27 Jan 2010
Surveys of all taught students will commence on 1 February
From 1 February, all taught students at the University will receive invitations to participate in a survey of their teaching and learning experiences. Final year undergraduates will take part in the National Student Survey, whilst all other taught students will be offered the opportunity to complete the University’s Taught Student Survey.
National Student Survey
Now entering its sixth year, the National Student Survey (NSS) will launch at The University of Manchester on 1 February 2010.
The NSS is a survey of mostly final year undergraduates in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and some institutions in Scotland. FE colleges with directly funded higher education students in England are also included. The survey is part of the revised system of quality assurance for higher education, which replaces subject review by the QAA and is designed to run alongside the QAA institutional audit to generate more detailed public information about teaching quality. The NSS is commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England on behalf of all the funding bodies. Ipsos MORI, an independent research company, administers the survey.
For further information about the NSS, including results from previous years, visit:
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE said, ‘The results of the previous National Student Surveys were overwhelmingly positive endorsements of higher education. They will enable prospective students to make well informed choices about their courses. By providing valuable feedback on their learning experiences, today’s students have an essential role in helping their successors to make the right decisions about higher education’.
It’s important that as many students as possible provide their feedback for the survey to generate reliable information. We need to achieve a response rate of at least 50% at institution level and in our subject areas (plus a minimum of 23 responses per cohort) in order for our data to be made publicly available on Unistats.com. Last year, due to the hard work of staff in Schools, we managed to achieve an overall response rate of 64%, and we are aiming to at least match this in 2010.
During the week beginning 1 February, eligible students will be sent an invitation email to complete the NSS. Those who have not completed the survey are later contacted by post or ultimately by telephone. Early online completion is desirable so please make your final year students aware of the NSS and encourage them to complete the survey online at:
Students may also opt out of the survey at any point during the fieldwork. Publicity material and advice has been distributed to administrative staff in Schools, and student reps will be helping to publicise the survey – please give them your full support.
If you would like further information about the National Student Survey:
- contact Jenny Wragge at jenny.wragge@manchester.ac.uk
or - visit Feedback from Students
If your students have any questions:
- direct them to National Student Survey 2010
or - they can contact the National Student Survey team at Ipsos MORI directly at thestudentsurvey@ipsos.com
UoM Taught Student Survey
The University will also be running an internal student satisfaction survey for postgraduate taught students and those undergraduate students who are not part of the National Student Survey. This Taught Student Survey 2010 will use those questions asked in the NSS and should provide staff with a more complete view of student satisfaction across the University.
The internal survey will open on 1 February and will run until 12 March at:
The survey will be announced via the Student Portal to the relevant student groups, and will be followed up by an email with the link to the survey. The data will then be processed and returned to each School for consideration by SSLCs and other School or Faculty meetings.
The survey is being administered by the Student Experience Office, the Communications, Media and Public Relations Division, and the Teaching and Learning Support Office.
If you have any queries, please contact:
- Louise Walmsley, Head of the TLSO, at louise.walmsley@manchester.ac.uk