National Student Survey 2009

09 January 2009

Now in its fifth year, prospective students, their advisors and the public can view the published NSS results at http://www.unistats.com/

The NSS is part of the revised system of quality assurance for higher education, which replaces subject review by the QAA. The survey is commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) on behalf of the other funding bodies and is designed to run alongside the QAA institutional audit, to generate more detailed public information about teaching quality. Ipsos MORI, an independent research company, administers the survey. The scope is mostly all final year undergraduates in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and some in Scotland. FE colleges with directly funded higher education students in England are also included.

Professor David Eastwood, 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 their 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 institutional level and in our subjects of study (combined with 23 respondents per subject area). Last year we achieved an overall response rate of 62% and we are aiming to beat that this year.

The survey is multi-method so during week beginning 12 January eligible students will be sent an invitation email to complete the NSS, and later non-respondents will be contacted by post or ultimately by telephone. We know from experience that online completion early on during the survey is desirable for all parties so please make sure students are aware of the NSS and encourage them to complete the survey online at http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/. Students may also opt out of the survey at any point during the fieldwork.

Carol Wurcbacher (Quality Support) and Sian Tudor (LSU) are coordinating our NSS promotion and ensuring that LJMU adheres to guidance from HEFCE when promoting the survey. Please make sure that students:  

• feel free to give their honest feedback on what they liked and did not like about their course
• are not asked to fill in the survey while a member of staff is overseeing their responses and made to feel that their responses are being monitored
• are not encouraged to reflect in their answers anything other than their genuine perception of their experience.

We would ask that you do not remove any publicity advertising the survey until the survey fieldwork phase has ended. The publicity is being distributed and displayed to try and ensure we obtain a good response rate to the survey.

If staff have any questions please contact Carol Wurcbacher. If students have any questions please go to http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/ or students can contact the NSS team at Ipsos MORI directly at thestudentsurvey@ipsos.com.

Many thanks for your help in promoting the survey.

Click here to download a PowerPoint presentation promoting the Survey.