National Student Survey 2024
The National Student Survey (NSS) 2024 will be live for University of Exeter students from 15 January to 30 April 2024.
The NSS is a nationally recognised annual survey of mostly final year undergraduates in the UK. The survey provides students with an opportunity to give their honest opinions on what they liked about their time at the University of Exeter, as well as things that they feel could be improved.
The survey is administered by Ipsos, an independent market research agency, so answers remain anonymous at all times.
At the University of Exeter, the NSS 2024 survey opens from Monday 15 January to Tuesday 30 April. During this period, students will receive direct correspondence from Ipsos and they can answer the survey at www.thestudentsurvey.com. The University will carry out complementary communications activity to encourage our students to respond, starting with an email from the Vice-Chancellor on 15 January.
- The NSS provides students with the opportunity to provide honest feedback on their student experience;
- Their feedback is used to improve the student experience at the University;
- Feedback from previous NSS surveys has helped to improve the student experience.
Incentives
Anyone eligible to take part in this year’s NSS can choose to enter a prize draw. This is for a top prize of £500 or one of 10x £50.
For every completed survey £1 will be donated to charity.
Students can look out for stands on campus and if they show their email receipt from filling out the survey, they’ll receive a coffee/tea voucher.
In order for results to be made publically available on the OfS and Unistats website, a publication threshold of a minimum of both 10 respondents and 50% response rate has to be met.
During the survey period (15 January to 30 April 2024) the University will be given an update on response rates which the OfS states can only be shared with certain colleagues. We have to keep a log of who has received the response rates, when and why. If you have any questions, contact studentcomms@exeter.ac.uk
The overall response rate can be made public once the survey has been completed.
Word of mouth is a really effective way of encouraging students to fill out the NSS.
If you want to help promote the NSS to students that you work with, you need to be aware of what you can and can't say, to ensure that the survey is carried out in a fair, unbiased way. You are able to tell students of improvements made as a result of the survey – however you must ensure that the improvements were made as a direct result of the NSS and not another survey/feedback source.
You must ensure you don't inappropriately influence the student(s) who are completing it. Please read the complete NSS 2024 Inappropriate Influence Guide. This includes:
- Letting each individual decide whether or not they wish to complete the survey
- Ensuring that those who do choose to complete it are able to answer each question with their own honest opinion
- Giving students privacy to complete it
- Not guiding students as to what a particular question (or scoring) may mean – they must make their own interpretation
If you will be speaking to students, please read the NSS 2024 Inappropriate Influence Guide. You can also read more on the NSS website and in the full NSS 2024 Good Practice Guide.
Staff can access assets to help promote the NSS. If you would like a copy of these assets, please contact studentcomms@exeter.ac.uk. You can also find some in the drop-down below. Please ensure that you adhere to the guidance on avoiding inappropriate influence when using them.
Directors of Education will also be provided with a template email, which can be sent from Faculties to promote the NSS.
In December 2023, Neil French, Market Research Manager and Jo Cole, Student Communications Manager, ran a webinar about promoting the NSS 2024; you can view the recording here.
If you have any further questions you can contact your colleagues within your Faculty, please see the list below.
Please see your Faculty NSS contact listed below.
If you have a question about how the National Student Survey will be publicised in your faculty, please contact the relevant person below. For all other enquiries, please contact studentcomms@exeter.ac.uk.
Faculty NSS contacts:
| ESE | ESE-studentexperience@exeter.ac.uk |
|---|---|
| HASS | HASS-studentexperience@exeter.ac.uk |
| HLS | HLS-studentexperience@exeter.ac.uk |
| Penryn | studentexperience@exeter.ac.uk |
You can read more information on the NSS website.
If you have any other questions, please contact studentcomms@exeter.ac.uk.
Please ensure that you adhere to the guidance on avoiding inappropriate influence when using these assets.