Professor Deborah Gill on the importance of New to UCL

To help UCL understand what works well for new students and where we can improve, the Student Engagement team runs the annual New to UCL survey, now in its fourth year.

This is open to new students at all levels of study.

This year’s survey opens on 25 October and runs until 8 December. Students will be emailed a direct link to the survey.

The questions look at the academic induction received by students, as well as their experience of using facilities and accessing support services. Students are also asked about why they chose to study at UCL. 

Why the survey is important

Deborah Gill, Director of UCL Medical School and Pro-Vice-Provost for Student Experience said: “Working with the Student Union we have made a really concerted effort to ensure the welcome to UCL we provide for all students is a good one that ensures students get off to the best possible start.

The results and comments from New to UCL are always really helpful in ensuring we get all elements of the welcome right.

Getting detailed feedback from the students at the beginning of the UCL journey also allows us to make changes that will help the new cohort of students as they progress, as well as planning for next year’s intake.

In the Medical School, New to UCL results have inspired a dedicated staff and student social get-together that creates those vital connections in the first week, along with changes to the focus and organisation of the first core module.

The Students’ Union, meanwhile, has launched a dedicated Postgraduate Welcome Event, which has been widely welcomed by students.

A strong New to UCL response rate in 2019 will bring in more student comments.

These comments are often valuable in highlighting ‘unknown’ issues not visible in quantitative feedback. It will also make local results less likely to be swayed by any outliers in student opinion.”

Increasing student response rates  

Last year, over 7,500 students completed the questionnaire, achieving a creditable 34% response rate. This year, we’d like to hear from at least 40% of our students.

To incentivise responses, The Office of the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Affairs) has arranged a prize draw for students completing this year’s survey.

Students are automatically entered into the draw after submitting their questionnaire, with one winner claiming £500 in cash and 50 runners-up receiving a £10 Amazon voucher. 

How you can help

Students are most likely to submit feedback when encouraged to by academic and professional services staff they know and respect, so departmental and faculty staff are very influential in securing a high response rate.

Please help promote the survey to your students, by:

• Promoting the survey on a module or programme’s Moodle page.
• Doing a lecture shout on how and why to take the New to UCL survey.
• Holding an event or drop-in session where all new UCL students in your department are given the opportunity to take the survey.
• Putting up posters or put postcards in student pigeonholes (contact the Student Engagement team and we can supply you with promotional materials).
• Discussing last year’s results at a Staff-Student Consultative Committee meeting and asking Student Academic Representatives to promote the survey.
• Providing a departmental incentive or prize draw (in addition to the prize draw we are running centrally).

You can find a full guide for promoting the survey on the Portal, along with a range of newly-refreshed promotional materials to download.

New to UCL results at institutional, departmental and programme levels will be released by mid-January 2020.

Please contact student.engagement@ucl.ac.uk if you have any questions on New to UCL 2019.