HE regulator’s student engagement strategy ramps up ‘student voice’ agenda

The Office for Students (OfS) student engagement strategy, published earlier this month, is a sign of the regulator’s commitment to ramping up its work capturing the student voice, one that should be replicated in all UK universities.

The strategy itself discusses continuously learning about students and their experiences, collaborating and working in partnership with them, communicating with them in an accessible way, and amplifying the voices of those who often go unheard. This direction marks a step away from student engagement as an add-on, to one that is at the heart of strategic decision-making and has the potential for a long-lasting impact in the HE sector. It is also an ethos we already see in module evaluation feedback surveys.

In terms of learning about the experiences of students, amongst other things, the OfS has said it will continue to collect student views through the National Student Survey (NSS) and consult with them on its extension, analyse comments through NSS, and keep developing its survey for postgraduate taught students. This is of direct interest, and relevance, to those responsible for overseeing module evaluation feedback surveys, because NSS poses questions on how students have the opportunity to give feedback and how their feedback is acted on. And the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) draws on data from NSS.

Twelve months ago we launched our insight report, The Student Voice, How can UK universities ensure that module evaluation feedback leads to continuous improvement across their institution?, and it is a good time to revisit what we found in our research. Certainly the commitment from universities to improving the way they capture the student voice was a big priority then, and the OfS strategy re-emphasises that.

In a similar vein, I was drawn to an article in THE  last month which examined how surveys of students in the US, Europe and Japan reveal major regional differences in how those at university rate their higher education experience. Interesting to me because it directly infers the challenges in engaging with students from different nationalities and demographics, which of course is the make-up of a typical UK university lecture theatre or seminar room.

In a recent blog I wrote about the 10 module evaluation dilemmas facing UK universities in 2020. These are undoubtedly the ‘technical’ questions we should be asking ourselves on survey administration but, as highlighted in the THE surveys, we also need to consider the type of students we are requesting feedback from. How do students from different countries and backgrounds prefer to engage in giving feedback? And how exactly do these differ, and do we offer different approaches to engagement?

At Explorance, we will be renewing our discussion on this issue at the Bluenotes Europe conference in Glasgow next month. The conference will include expert panel discussions where educational leaders will discuss the role of student evaluations, surveys and feedback at world-class institutions. We will have presentations on new-age formative feedback toolkits and institutional applications, sessions on improving process and interpretation of evaluation data, and the need for institutional improvement communication plans based upon evaluation results. We look forward to seeing you there.

John Atherton is General Manager, Europe at Explorance