New to UCL 2020 survey goes live

The New to UCL survey will run for five weeks during First Term, from 29 October to 6 December 2020. The survey is a rich source of feedback on why students choose UCL, as well as the extent to which they feel confident and supported in beginning their programme of study.

Staff are encouraged to help secure high response rates by promoting the survey directly to students, putting out digital content and sending promotional emails to their students.

All new students at all levels of study are eligible to take part in New to UCL (approximately 24,500 this year). This includes undergraduates, those on foundation degrees, postgraduate taught and research students, as well as those studying via affiliates. It is open to all new students at all levels of study, regardless of whether they are in London or learning remotely.

The results and comments from New to UCL are always really helpful in ensuring we get all elements of the welcome to the UCL community right. This year, perhaps more than any other year, 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. 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. - Deborah Gill, Director of UCL Medical School and Pro-Vice-Provost for Student Experience.

The survey is organised by the Student Partnership team, within the Office of the Vice Provost (Education & Student Affairs), who poll eligible students via email and run a prize draw for students who complete the survey.  The top prize in the New to UCL prize draw is £500 in cash, with 50 runners-up also winning a £10 Amazon voucher.

Key changes from last year

2019-20 was the New to UCL survey’s fourth year, and the completion was 32%, with over 5,500 students taking part. This year, we’d really value your support in continuing this impressive momentum as we look to secure another high response rate for New to UCL 2020-21.

The questionnaire has evolved to gather feedback on UCL’s blended approach to learning in 2020-21, with new questions on digital education, remote / on-campus learning, social distancing measures and the new Make the Most of UCL campaign.

The vast majority of questions from last year are retained too, in order to enable year-on-year comparisons between survey results.

The full questionnaire for 2020-21 can be found on the Teaching & Learning Portal.

How you can help

Previous research has shown that students respond best to requests for feedback from university staff they already know and respect. As such, departmental / faculty staff support is extremely valuable in encouraging as many students as possible to have their say.

Our New to UCL 2020 guidance document outlines top tips for how to achieve high response rates in your department, templates for email and social media and further details of the New to UCL survey prize draw.