The National Student Survey doesn’t just give you a chance to provide feedback on the Liverpool Hope University experience - you can also now help to raise money for charity.
The National Student Survey, or ‘NSS’, is an annual census of nearly half a million students across the UK, and it’s been a fixture of the university calendar since 2005.
The survey is a chance for ‘Level H’ final year undergraduates to have their say on the courses they’ve been studying and their broader experience of their University and Student Union.
By engaging with the NSS, you stand a chance of winning one of TWO free Apple iPads.
And now Hope has also announced a new competition where the Hope School or Department with the most NSS surveys filled-in will be able to nominate a charity to receive a special, one-off donation of £1,000 from the University.
Dr Penny Haughan, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost at Hope, explains: “We’d like to encourage students to take part in the NSS, as it really does give students a powerful voice to help shape the future of their course and to reflect on their experience.
“And for 2022, we’ve created a special NSS competition to see which School or Department at Hope has the best engagement with the survey.
“So far, there’s a clear leader in terms of participation - the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, followed closely by the School of Creative and Performing Arts and the School of Education - but there’s still time for that to change!”
You can complete the survey by heading to the NSS website and clicking the ‘complete the survey’ button. The survey closes on March 31st 2022.
The School or Department with the highest response rate, according to data Hope receives from the NSS, will be able to nominate a charity to receive a £1,000 donation from the University. That nomination will be decided via a vote among Level H students from within the winning School or Department.
The winning School or Department will be announced after the survey closes.
Students who complete the NSS will also be entered into a prize draw to win one of the two iPads available as prizes.
The iPad prize winners will be notified by email via the Deputy Vice Chancellor's office as soon as we are advised of the winners names by Ipsos and within 5 working days after the closing date of the survey (31 March 2022).
Results will be announced in the Student Bulletin and Social Media platforms in the next published bulletin and after presentation of the survey prize, and by week ending Friday April 8th 2022.
Dr Haughan, meanwhile, points out that the survey is an excellent opportunity for Level H students to provide helpful information for prospective students deciding what and where to study.
She adds: “At Hope we’re committed to listening to our students so that we can continue to provide the best possible academic experience for undergraduates of the future.”
Want to know more about the NSS? Here are some handy FAQs:
Who runs the NSS?
The NSS is run by Ipsos MORI and commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS), on behalf of the UK funding and regulatory bodies – Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and the Department for Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI).
Why is the NSS conducted?
The NSS is conducted for four main reasons:
** To inform student decisions – it enables prospective students to compare courses at different universities and colleges when deciding what and where to study.
** To provide information to enhance the student experience – universities and colleges use the results to help improve their courses, facilities, and the student learning experience for current and future students.
** To assist with the quality assurance and wider regulatory landscape in UK higher education.
** To support public accountability – the survey is also a mechanism for the general public to be provided with information about UK higher education.
Who benefits from the NSS?
Your feedback provides universities and student unions with a picture of what the learning experience has been like for students completing their courses in 2022. Universities and students’ unions can use the anonymised data to identify what they do well and what needs to be improved, to help bring about changes which will improve the overall student experience. More widely, the survey results provide important information for regulatory bodies about the quality of higher education across the UK.
What questions are asked in the survey?
The survey asks final year students to provide feedback on their courses. There are 27 core questions, relating to the following aspects of the student experience:
** Teaching on my course
** Learning opportunities
** Assessment and feedback
** Academic support
** Organisation and management
** Learning resources
** Learning community
** Student voice
** Overall Satisfaction
Students are also given the opportunity to comment on their experience as a whole at their university or college. Comments are passed on anonymously to the universities and colleges to help them identify where their strengths lie and also how they can make improvements.
It only takes about ten minutes to complete the NSS.
Why should you complete the NSS?
Only you and your fellow students know what it was like studying on your course and so the NSS has been designed to capture students’ views on the areas that matter to you. Your university or college will use your feedback to make real changes to the student experience.
Your response to the NSS will also help provide useful information to prospective students about your course. The results are made available to the public through the website. Prospective students can use Discover Uni to compare NSS results across different higher education courses to help them make informed choices about where and what to study.
Will student responses be confidential?
Responses to the survey are strictly confidential, and all responses are anonymised before they are shared with the university/college to ensure individuals cannot be identified.
What if I don’t want to complete the NSS?
Participation in the NSS is voluntary. If you do not wish to take part, you can simply opt out of the survey. At any stage that Ipsos MORI contacts you directly (6 January– 30 April), you can state that you do not wish to take part and you will not be contacted again by Ipsos MORI. Please note, you must actively opt out if you do not wish to be surveyed – not responding to the email or telephone interview does not constitute an opt-out.