Introduction Targets The Services ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦
Accommodation Income Registry Student Support
General Recommendations New Student Centre Conclusion
The purpose of the survey was to assess student satisfaction across the four student services: Accommodation, Income, the Registry and Student Support. Students were asked about various aspects of each service such as location and accessibility, staff, and contacting the office, as well as service-specific questions. If a student answered ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ for any aspect of the services, they were encouraged to explain why. The respective free text responses are included in the Appendix of the report. Students were also asked about demographics (gender, nationality, year of study and department). Their answers to these questions filtered out which questions they received in some cases.
The project aimed to find potential areas for improvement in order to make student services more efficient and better suited to students’ needs. ◦ The project highlighted key areas of improvement for student services that could be implemented in the new Student Centre.
Students were asked general questions about the services as a whole. These responses are included in the report.
Strengths
System of applying for accommodation (70% good) Accessible location Privacy respected
Room exchange/transfer process (18% poor) Dealing with a problem in accommodation (16%)
Staff willing to make an extra effort to help students
Waiting times both at the office and for responses to queries
Staff are polite and courteous
Poor opening hours (12%)
Weaknesses
Having to go from office to office to solve an issue (23.1%)
Faster response times to queries Better system for allocating first choices of accommodation to students Better feedback given in response to queries Faster, more effective system of room exchange/transfer
Strengths
Accessible location
Long waiting time (22%)
Professional and polite staff
Solving queries complicated and time-consuming (26%)
Helpful information User friendly online forms Prompt response to inquiries
Weaknesses
Privacy respected
Students sent from office to office (29%)
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More efficient payment and refund processes
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More information available to students
Strengths
Professional and polite staff Helpful information User friendly online forms Prompt response to inquiries
Opening hours not satisfactory (17%) Long waiting time (30%) Solving queries complicated and timeconsuming (31%) Students sent from office to office (33%)
Weaknesses
Confidentiality respected
Office not easy to find (20%)
Improved accessibility of office
Improved process of resolving queries
Reduced waiting time
More information available to students about various processes
Strengths
Easy to find, students comfortable visiting in person Professional and polite staff; helping as best they can Straightforward online processes; prompt response to inquiries Waiting time: students spoke with an adviser within 15 min (89% respondents)
Confidentiality respected
Information provided (66% found it helpful, 11% not helpful) RSN-specific weaknesses •RAs did not make active effort to promote social integration (30% ) •Students did not feel supported by their RAs (27%)
•RAs were not approachable/present (16%)
Weaknesses
Follow-up advice offered within 5 days of enquiry
Not satisfactory opening hours (11%)
Improved training and expertise of Student Support staff Improved training and communication skills of RAs Better monitoring of RA performance
Improve the University website.
Expand opening hours.
Reduce response times to queries.
Improve communication with students as to what services the university offers.
Review the services and price of university accommodation.
Review RSN employees.
Widen availability of counselling services on campus.
Improve opening hours/visibility of services.
Increase support for students suffering from mental health issues, budgeting issues, integration issues.
Better promotion of services and their functions.
Improve staff manner.
Improve ease of use of services (e.g. improve payment options).
Ensure privacy.
A welcoming, modern design in terms of colours, furniture and space.
A social, comfortable design.
An “efficient” design, that reduces waiting times, is easy to access and allows confidentiality.
Better cooperation between services.
Academic advisers, specialised counsellors ( e.g. LGBT, Health) available for emergencies.
Ticket system rather than having to wait in line.
Increased and efficient use of email services (e.g. for smaller queries).
More use of social media as a way to connect with students. Set up live chats, design phone apps with booking system.
Online FAQ page, appointment booking system and anonymous complaints board.
Use of touch screens displaying average waiting times, drop-in session times, event information.
Computer lab and printers so that people do not have to look for a lab to print of or scan forms.
Make more forms available online.
Overall, students are satisfied with the student services based on the results of the survey; the majority of respondents replied with either ‘very good’ or ‘good’ about their overall experience of each service. Staff is generally seen as professional, approachable and polite.
Dissatisfaction with: opening hours, failure to deal with reported problems and difficulties in resolving a query. This follows the trend from last year’s survey. Free text responses also identified problems with the University webpage.
A need for a general increase in the awareness, availability and efficiency of the services provided.
Students consistently asked for better information regarding what the services actually offered.
Use technology to improve waiting and response times for students.