Student Voice III by UCASU

REPORT III AUGUST 2013

Trusted. Supportive. Confident. Empowering.

Introduction Welcome to Student Voice III. This is the third consecutive year the Students’ Union has carried out the Student Voice survey since its introduction in 2011. This year we have developed some of the questions to account for the changes made by the University. Each year the Student Voice report makes recommendations to the University to help improve the student experience. This year’s report will take into consideration any action implemented by the University as a result of these recommendations. These changes will be outlined and explained throughout the report. However, we have also continued to use a large majority of questions from the previous Student Voice surveys. This is to allow a continued amount of comparative analysis to help track the effectiveness the actions undertaken following the recommendations in the first two Student Voice reports. Unfortunately, this year only 503 students completed the survey. This is a reduction from 758 students in 2012 and 634 from 2011. The Students’ Union had hoped to increase or at least match the 2012 figure for completed surveys but failed to reach our target. A full breakdown of data is available in Appendix A. Student Experiences at UCA: Expectations and Satisfaction 3.1 For the following please state: a) How important you feel each factor is to your student experience 1=not very important 5=very important b) Currently, how satisfied are you with what UCA offers 1=not very satisfied 5=very satisfied This ranking activity is a continuation of previous year’s work on the student experience. Students are asked to rank categories on a scale of 1-5 for importance and satisfaction (1=not very, 5= very). This year we changed and altered a number of the options to align with changes in the University and Students’ Union. These are as follows: •

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We changed the option ‘community and interaction on campus’ to ‘social community on campus’ to specify the definition of community for students. Furthermore, we specified ‘nightlife’ to mean bars and clubs rather than social activities that occur at night, e.g. jive club. We removed the ‘location’ category as we felt little could be done by either the University and Students’ Union that could improve this. ‘Provision of other facilities’ was specified into separate categories; ‘student services’ and ‘accommodation’. This was because we felt these areas were more important for students and the data we could collaborate would make a more worthwhile impact. We removed ‘employment of graduates’ from this question because we felt it was difficult for students to determine how employable they were whilst still in education. We removed ‘tuition’ as it was not clear what would be achieved from this information now UCA has implemented the new tuition fee. We added ‘class size and contact hours’ as we felt UCA students do not experience a typical University model of class size and contact hours (e.g. large lecture halls) due to the nature of 1

their course. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to determine how they rate this within their student experience. Findings (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix B) The five most important categories for UCA students in 2013 are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Quality of Teaching Course Facilities Course and Course content Class sizes and contact hours Links with employers/graduates

Therefore, academic related areas remain of highest priority to UCA students in line with data from SVi and SVII. Currently, there is no agreed benchmark for satisfaction results from the Student Voice survey. As the Student Voice Survey and Report is reviewed and developed in 2013 should a satisfaction benchmark be discussed and agreed? UCASU believes that this a discussion that should occur with UCA as to the future purpose of the Student Voice report and if it should have clearer measures and benchmarks attached to it following the development of UCA’s strategic objectives for the NSS? The category of ‘University links with employer/graduates’ had the biggest difference between importance and satisfaction ranking at 24.9%. Unfortunately, SVIII does not break the results down into schools or course so we are unable to drill down into this any further to discover if there are any significant differences between courses. Perhaps a development of Careers and Employability under LSS may develop more of this research. The category of ‘University links with employer/graduates’ had the biggest difference between importance and satisfaction ranking at 24.9%. Unfortunately, SVIII does not break the results down into schools or course so we are unable to explore if there are any significant differences between courses or schools. Perhaps the development of Careers and Employability within the new LSS strategy may enable this to be researched more as it may lead to interesting results, which may enable activities that help in achieving a 65% graduate level employment. There is a strong emphasis of embedding industry links within the course content and delivery at UCA but UCASU is unclear on the opportunities that exist for students to engage with employers and industry leaders outside of a student’s course. Opportunities do exist at UCA but these need to be better communicated to the student body to increase accessibility regardless of their school or course. The lowest ranking importance categories were ‘nightlife’ and ‘social community’, which also had the largest difference with satisfaction ratings. However, due to the diverse nature and geographical location of our campuses it is often difficult delivering these two categories consistently and can be 2

problematic. A creation of a social community is important to the Students’ Union and will be part of our work themes in 2013/14. There is no statistically significant change between the 3 surveys regarding importance satisfaction, excluding Study Abroad opportunities, which is worth noting. (For more data please see table 7 in the appendix) Student satisfaction with the Study Abroad opportunities has decreased the most by 5.4%. This change is problematic if UCA is to have 15% of Year 2 undergraduate students undertaking an exchange or significant international visit by 2018. CAMPUS (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix B) Overall there has been both a decrease in satisfaction and increase in importance for the ‘Safety and security’ category. This is particularly significant at Epsom, Maidstone and Rochester where it sits as number five in the most important categories. UCASU recognizes that the timing of the survey may have had a bearing on this return due to some incidents occurring on these campuses bringing it to the forefront of students’ minds. YEARS OF STUDY (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix B) Unfortunately, due to a low turnout of Postgraduate responses it is too low to pull any robust statistical information from their data. However, the Students’ Union is improving its interaction with Postgraduate students via the work of SEPG. The five most important categories do not differ significantly within the years of study. However, FE placed ‘safety and security’ at higher importance than ‘university links with employers/graduates’. The trend continues in that UG students place ‘links with employers and graduate’ significantly higher than FE and PG students. In keeping with the rest of the document there is no change in satisfaction ratings in comparison to previous Student Voice reports. Q6) Does your current experience meet the expectations advertised to you by UCA? There are no significant differences from the previous two year’s Student Voice survey. The number of students who responded ‘yes’ varies between year groups. The earlier year groups are more satisfied with the expectations advertised to them than those in later years, i.e. UG3. This may be because of the recent changes made at UCA through previous student voices and new leadership. Canterbury’s figures have increased significantly from previous Student Voice Reports. (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix C). 3

Recommendations • • •

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UCA develop greater access to and offer more internally facing opportunities to meet and work with the strong UCA alumni. For example, the Zhandra Rhodes Archive study. UCA to offer more paid opportunities for students in a professional capacity through the work of SEPG. UCA to embed the changes made to the Course Rep system ensuring students can actively participate with their learning environment. This can be measured by the number of Course Boards with course rep presence held by course leaders in 2013/14. Is the data in SVIII about Canterbury reflected in ISS and NSS? UCA to implement ‘Hidden Course Costs’ onto website for effect on 2014/15 recruitment, i.e. October 2013.

UCASU Commitments There is a high level of dissatisfaction in areas such as a social community, additional opportunities and nightlife. •

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UCASU commits to providing a small amount of funding per campus to enable officers and students to run more social activities on their campus thus, encouraging greater community spirit. UCASU to reassess their clubs and societies procedures to increase the accessibility and inclusivity for students. UCASU’s continued commitment to support the development of the course rep system through SEPG. UCASU need to improve its own internal student voice activity (democratic structures). UCASU will attend each open day where possible to outline its role in the student experience at UCA. UCASU where required to collaborate with marketing and communications in the development of recruitment practices at UCA to ensure students receive an accurate reflection of student life

Academic: Timetabling, Course Organisation and Communication Q7) Between September 2012 and April 2013 how many of your timetabled session were cancelled? (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix D) There have been a number of improvements from last year’s SVII; • •

10.2% increase in no timetable cancellations 3.1% decrease in 4 or more cancellations. This is a continued decrease from 2011

However, importantly 19.9% of respondents stated that they had 4 or more sessions cancelled. At a time of increasing student expectations this is a worrying statistic and the creation the Timetabling project group is a timely development. We know from SVII students preferred method of communication about timetable alterations where text and email. However, it is key that there is student facing communication considered within the scope of the Timetabling project group. This activity should not purely focus on when a student receives their timetable but how they are informed of any changes. There has been no statistical improvement in satisfaction with notice period for timetable alterations and a decrease in satisfaction as to how alterations are communicated to students in comparison to SVII. (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix D) Recommendations •

Therefore, these issues need to be at the forefront of discussions when developing the new Timetabling policies and align with the promises made in the Student Charter

Commitments • •

UCASU continued contribution to the work of the timetabling project group and any subsequent policy development. UCASU commits to monitor timetabling issues through via its work with course reps and feeding back to the appropriate departments.

Student Engagement: Delivering on student feedback Q10) Are you given the opportunity to feedback in your course and individual units? To build on the introduction of this section in SVII we asked students to outline if they were given opportunity to feedback on their course and individual units. On a year to year comparison we saw a 6.9% decrease in the number of students who said they had been given an opportunity (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix E). There were slight variations in responses between campus on the opportunity to feedback on their course. UCASU believe that the opportunity to feedback should be consistent irrespective of campus or course. Q11) Do you believe you opinions and concerns are/would be acted upon? When asked if they felt their opinion and concerns would be listened to or acted upon there was no significant statistical change from SVII. Furthermore, there was a high response of ‘don’t know’ answers suggesting a problem with closing the feedback loop at UCA. (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix F). Q12) If you have had a concern or opinion, how have you voiced it? This year we introduced a new question to determine how students are voicing their opinions and concerns. This would allow for greater analysis of the most effective mechanisms for the student voice and where issues lay in feedback mechanisms throughout UCA and UCASU. We also provided students with an opportunity to provide ‘other’ as a text based answer. These varied and included answers that could easily be categorised, such as lecturer into course team, or disability into student services. The top 3 channels for students to voice their opinions and concerns are: 1) Course leader 2) Course Rep 3) Feedback Forms (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix G). We also did a breakdown that outlines whether students felt their opinions and concerns were listened to through those particular channels. The most successful channel of voicing student concerns were through the course leader, feedback forms and course teams. However, the least successful channel for students was the Students’ Union and Faculty Office. Once again, there are high levels of students who are unsure what happens to their opinions and concerns once they have voiced them.

Comment There is a clear problem ‘closing the feedback loop’ at UCA and UCASU. Whether students voice their opinions and concerns or not, they are predominantly unsure if they are listened to. This low confidence about the impact of the student voice as a change maker in UCA has a direct effect on the student Experience. The Students’ Union has a lot of work to do to ensure students feel they are listened to and action is taken to improve their university experience and we inform them what we have done on their behalf. This may be due to an overly complicated democratic structure with UCASU that is difficult to understand and access as a student. Recommendations • • • •

UCA should develop a robust feedback system for all courses in that ensures measurable impact, making them mandatory. SEPG should communicate the important role, value and practice of Unit Feedback across the University. UCA should brand ‘you said… we did’ for academics and staff members to use UCA should reassess its student communication model; This should involve clearly defining the role of myUCA and the mobile app and should be informed by the new IT strategy and the work of SEPG.

Commitments • • • •

UCASU will endeavor to have 60% Course rep positions filled and 65% trained and use course reps to monitor the quality of feedback. UCASU will include more training for course reps regarding ‘closing the feedback loop’. UCASU must improve and be accountable for its student casework. These figures must then be communicated to students and UCA at the end of 13/14. UCASU must review and improve its democratic processes.

The Students’ Union Q13) Do you think the Students’ Union contributes positively to your experience at UCA? There has been a disappointing drop of 9.1% satisfaction in the Students’ Union. As expected, satisfaction varies depending on campuses. There is a number of students who are unsure if the Students’ Union has had any impact on their experience at UCA at all. Furthermore, satisfaction with the Union has dropped across all types of study, particularly in FE and PG. (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix H). COMMENT The Students’ Union’s limited improvement over the three years illustrates the need to develop a coherent operational and strategic plan based on the large amount of student data we have from NSS, ISS and Student Voice reports. The lack of strategic narrative has led to the confusing image surrounding the Students’ Unions purpose. The Students’ Unions immediate focus are on improving communication, developing stronger representative structures and the creation of opportunities for students to participate in the campus community.

Student Life This year we introduced a new question to determine more about student life at UCA. This was to allow both the Union and University access to information that would help shape and inform decision making processes. Furthermore, despite a large amount of work surrounding this topic in the sector little is known about the time constraints and commitments of creative students. (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix J). We asked students; Q14) How many hours a week do you spend doing the following? (Sleep, Practical Course Work, Social time, Part time jon, time in the library, technical support, lecture preparation, volunteering & Other) The option of ‘other’ allowed students to provide a textual response. The most common ‘other’ categories were; shopping for materials, travel, disability support and childcare. The most time consuming activities for students were practical coursework, sleep and spare time.

There are some key figures to note from this question: • • • •

69% of students had a part time job Students sleep an average of 5 hours a night 46% students volunteer in their spare time 12.9% students volunteer for at least an hour a week 9

Comment This is an interesting initial glance at UCA student life. However, there is much more research to be conducted in this area to find out more. Consequently, we need to do more research on the mode of study and ensure respondents mirror our student demographic so we have a more representative picture of our studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyles. This should be developed in comparison to national data to determine any differences with creative students. What can be determined from these results is a high number of students have part time jobs, volunteer and other commitments on top of their studies. However, from this survey it is unclear what type of volunteering our students undertakes. Our students additional time commitments should be considered by UCA and UCASU in all its decision making processes. Recommendations â&#x20AC;˘

UCA and UCASU to undertake more research into the student life. Is there scope for the Student Voice report to develop into a UCA Student Lifestyle report removing any duplication that may be perceived with ISS and NSS?

Course Progression We asked; Q15) Do you feel your course prepares for progression onto education, training or employment? (For a greater breakdown of data please see Appendix K). Our students felt less prepared as they moved through the student lifecycle from FE (79.6%) to UG (60.2%) and finally PG (55.6%). The results are to be expected as the move towards employment becomes nearer students feel less prepared for progression. However, more work is needed to find out what students want to prepare for transition throughout the student lifecycle. The PG students had lowest satisfaction regarding preparation for progression, whilst FE had greater satisfaction. It appears that the higher stage in education a student at UCA is at they become less satisfied with how their course prepares them for progression. Comment It is vital for all UCA students to feel prepared for either ongoing education and training or employment to ensure they go onto make extraordinary achievements and become strong ambassadors for UCA. Recommendations • •

UCA should develop a stronger presence of alumni on site UCA should develop celebrating student and staff success

Commitments •

UCASU should review how they reward and recognize participation in co-curricular and extracurricular activity.

Conclusion There has been little or no significant statistical change throughout the three consecutive Student Voice reports. It is disappointing that the large amount of positive change across the University is not reflected in the Student Voice results. Consequently, UCASU has identified three key areas to focus upon and improve; Communication – An important development would be to identify where and how student facing information is communicated. At present UCASU feels there is a huge amount of uncertainty as to where to place any student facing information. Currently, there is no centralized platform for student to access and receive general information about life as a student at UCA. This has led to confusion over the purpose of myUCA and the notion that the mobile app is seen as the answer to this rather than one of the ways to increase the accessibility of information. Closing the Feedback Loop – The nature of the University life cycle often means students do not feel the immediate positive impact of change as it travels through the system. However, it is vital the University develops a stronger partnership with students that encourage constant dialogue surrounding the process of feedback and where this leads to change within the University operations and systems. Poor awareness of opportunities for personal development – It is unclear amongst the student population what opportunities exist for students to engage with extracurricular activities at UCA. Opportunities do exist at UCA but these need to be better communicated to the student body to increase accessibility and inclusivity regardless of their campus, school or course. The SVIII report will be presented to the UCASU Trustee Board this year to ensure the recommendations and commitments are embedded within the Students’ Union strategic and operational vision. Furthermore, UCASU and UCA will need to make a collaborative effort to develop and adapt the Student Voice report. This should include reconsidering the purpose of the report, its relation with NSS/ISS and how it can be developed for more relevant research about our students’ lifestyle. In line with this process, the Students’ Union has applied for the NUS Annual Quality Report Project, which will help to assess and develop our current system through the latest innovations within the sector.

Please note: The appendices for Student Voice III report is available on the Students’ Union website, ucasu.com