Dear Colleagues,
The results of the recent National Students Survey (NSS) for 2015 are now available to view. The results are available to view at University, school, subject and programme levels and include both quantitative data and student comments. Planning and Business Intelligence have provided a tool to visualise and analyse the NSS results in more detail. The tool available through Cognos shows our survey results at school and subject level and allows for comparisons against other institutions and sector averages. All staff can access the NSS application here, using your University log-in details.
In this latest NSS, which reflects the views of our final year undergraduates during the 2014/15 academic year, Edinburgh Napier scored 84% for the key question - “Overall I am satisfied with the quality of the course”. This is a small drop from the 85% overall satisfaction we received last year and it is also below the sector average of 86% for both Scotland and the UK. Meanwhile, the University Corporate Plan sets out our ambition to achieve >90% student satisfaction in the NSS by 2020.
The performance of our individual schools and programmes is mixed. Many areas are continuing to improve and a number are performing extremely well with satisfaction exceeding 90%. It is important we learn from these areas and continue to build upon the great practice that is evident across the University. A smaller number of areas have more disappointing results out of line with this trend and our efforts now need to particularly focus on these areas which require significant improvement if we are to achieve our ambition to be recognised as a University with consistently excellent teaching.
All schools are developing appropriate action plans in response to the NSS but to be effective these really need to be embedded as part of a genuine culture of continual improvement. I would encourage everyone contributing to the delivery of our programmes, and particularly the programme leadership teams, to make the best possible use of the feedback from the NSS alongside our internal quality procedures (including the University-wide internal module satisfaction survey, annual programme monitoring and the student staff liaison committees) to ensure we really do understand and address local issues. It is important that we respond very promptly to issues that have emerged in order that improvements are effected for our current students, with the 2016 NSS campaign launch in January now less than five months away.
The move to a programme focus and a school based structure is intended to promote the local ownership that helps deliver real change, underpinned by University-wide support. An institutional priority in this coming year will be to focus more closely on assessment and feedback within programmes, drawing on best practice in the sector. We will also look to build on the close partnership established with the Students Association, especially in the role of student representatives and investment will continue in improving our teaching facilities and systems such as timetabling.
I would like to thank you all for the hard work over the past year that underpins our efforts to continue to improve the experience of our students. I look forward to continuing to build on this work over the coming year in conjunction with programme teams, subject groups and schools. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you’d like to discuss any aspects of this further.
Regards
Alistair Sambell
Vice-Principal & Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Alistair Sambell
Sighthill 7.B.25 T. 0131 455 5035