All change for National Student Survey results
19 July 2023
National Student Survey (NSS) results will be published later than normal and in a different format this year following a redesign of the survey.
This will result in considerable differences in the data and our Planning and Strategy Office (PSO) is urging colleagues to carefully consider how they use the information provided.
The Office for Students (OfS), which is responsible for the UK-wide survey, made changes to the core questionnaire and response scales. These changes include revising the emphasis of the questions and responses, removing the opportunity for respondents to select a ‘neither agree nor disagree’ answer, and removing the overall satisfaction question for providers in England.
As a result of these changes, it will not be possible to compare directly the responses with previous years’ surveys.
The OfS intends to publish results on Thursday 10 August, but section level results will not be made available until later in the Autumn, meaning initial results will only contain response data for individual questions. An OfS consultation included a proposal to replace the agreement rate with a ‘positivity measure’ but is not due to release its findings until the NSS results are published.
These are major changes and there is continued uncertainty as a result of the outstanding consultation report. Consequently, the PSO is considering how to provide the most effective internal data analysis, particularly in relation to the delayed section level results, and the combination of changes means the timeline for providing internal analysis of the results will be different from previous years.
Elizabeth McCrum, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience, said: “The NSS provides us with one of the most comprehensive pieces of student feedback available and we rely on it to inform a program of continuous improvement related to the student experience.
“It is an essential tool for highlighting what we do well and where we could do even better, so we look forward to listening and responding to our student feedback.”