2006 and 2005 Summary Results

The 2006 results were very positive, overall satisfaction was extremely high - four out of five students stated that they ‘mostly agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course’.

However, also coming out of the data were some serious areas of concern. Namely assessment and feedback, students from minority ethnic groups and disabled students. A brief description of these issues are below:

Assessment and Feedback: students were much more likely to be negative about their experiences of Assessment and Feedback than any other topic in the survey – 40% expressed dissatisfaction in 2006. This was the lowest ranking section for every university across the sector and is clearly a collective problem for students.

Minority Ethnic Students: the impact of ethnicity was not consistent for all ethnic groups. For those students from Asian backgrounds there was a very clear picture: these students were less positive about every aspect of their courses (with the exception of Organisation and Management where the difference was not statistically significant) than white students. Students from black ethnic backgrounds were less positive about Teaching and Learning and Academic Support than white students but were more positive about Assessment and Feedback and Organisation and Management. Those from ‘other’ ethnic groups were on balance more negative than white students, however this represents a rather mixed grouping of students.

Disabled Students: students with a declared disability were on the whole less likely to be positive than students with no declared disability. This was acutely so for dyslexic students. They were less positive about all aspects of their courses than other students.

More research is being carried out into these areas, if you would like to know more please contact Hannah Pudner.