National Student Survey (NSS)
This national survey asks final year undergraduates about their experience on their course. It runs during February, March and April every year and is administered by Ipsos Mori, an independent market research agency. Survey responses are anonymous.
.jpg "Vector image with bilingual text in Gaelic and English")
Who is eligible for the NSS?
The National Student Survey 2024 opens for University of the Highlands and Islands students between 05 February and 24 April 2024.
This is a targeted survey of students in their final year of a three or four year undergraduate degree, or the final year of an HND.
Only targeted students will be contacted to invite them to participate in the survey. Eligible students will be contacted by Ipsos Mori via email and will be encouraged to participate by their programme leader and PAT.
What questions are asked?
The survey contains NSS question set for 2024 divided into sections including: teaching on my course, assessment and feedback, organisation and management, learning opportunities, learning community and student voice. There are additional optional multiple choice questions, and participants are invited to leave comments about particularly positive or negative aspects of their student experience.
How do I get my Amazon voucher?
The university offers a prize draw for a £200 Amazon voucher as our way of saying thank you to students participating in the survey. To claim enter the draw, visit the survey and tick the box that you would like to be included in the draw. Survey responses are not linked in any way to the draw, with the winner being chosen randomly by our survey provider, Ipsos Mori. Only students eligible to participate in the NSS may enter, but completion of the survey is not required to enter the draw. Please email the NSS team at nssuhi@uhi.ac.uk with any questions.
What happens to the results?
The university receives a full set of anonymised NSS survey data in July/August. The data is analysed and sent to various committees who use them to plan for the following academic year. Courses who perform below average for 'overall satisfaction' are required to write action plans detailing how they will address students' concerns in the next academic year.
The NSS Brief Report 2023 detailing survey results is now available.
Responses to student feedback in 2021-2022
Below are some of the actions which took place in 2021-22 as a result of student feedback:
| You said... | We did... |
|---|---|
| There are WiFi issues in some areas at three academic parnters. |
The WiFi project improved the network accross the partnership. It was noted that at three partners there were problem areas in some parts of the buildings, so enhanced WiFi was provided. |
| Not aware of technology to support learning at a distance. |
The existing ‘one stop shop’ technologies support area of the website was updated with additional support for studying at home. |
| Some students did not have suitable technology to study online. | The Digital Poverty group sourced suitable devices and connectivity packages for loan funded by the SFC digital funding allowance. In addition, this scheme was supplemented with additional devices funded by the university to increase the coverage of the loan scheme. |
| You were often unaware of the online library resources available and how to find and use them to enhance their learning. | Communications on existing and new resources were enhanced. Checklists for staff to ensure student awareness introduced. |
| A need for help and assistance when using the online library service. |
A live chat function was introduced so that users can ask questions and seek help in real time with a member of library staff. |
| More online events and opportunities to connect with other students during COVID. |
HISA worked with the university to provide online events, while existing events such as HISA Con were moved online to allow greater participation. |
|
Better support of class reps during COVID.
|
Enhanced online and networked (VC) class rep training introduced as well as better identification of reps so that they can be supported by local staff. |