Four simple steps to help promote the NSS to your final year undergraduates

The National Student Survey gives final year undergraduates an opportunity to anonymously submit a comprehensive assessment of their UCL experience. This year’s edition of the nationwide survey is open until 30 April. The survey typically takes around 15 minutes to complete and can be found at www.thestudentsurvey.com. 

Why the NSS matters at UCL  

The NSS is a vital source of feedback on the undergraduate experience at UCL. Results and open text comments from the survey are pivotal in shaping the development of education in departments and across UCL. 

Students participating in the NSS provide their honest feedback in response to 28 questions, covering the following areas:  

• Teaching 
• Learning Opportunities 
• Assessment and Feedback  
• Academic Support 
• Learning Resources 
• Learning Community 
• Student Voice 

You can find the full NSS 2022 questionnaire on the Teaching and Learning Portal.  

Results and open text comments are shared with UCL’s faculties, departments and support services to help them identify areas of excellent performance and opportunities for improvement. The results also feature in the Annual Student Experience Review (ASER) data set for each department.  

NSS results may also influence future students’ choice of study, as programme-level results are published on Discover Uni and NSS scores also contribute to some university league tables.   

How to promote NSS 2022 in your area 

UCL is running a comprehensive campaign to encourage eligible students to complete the National Student Survey, including email invites and social media reminders.  

Students are most likely to submit their feedback when encouraged to do so by staff they already know.

1. Colleagues who would like to ask their students to take part in the survey can use the promotional materials (email signature, posters, social media images etc.) and guidance available on the Teaching and Learning Portal.  
2. Key contacts in UCL departments and faculties will receive a weekly update on NSS 2022 response rates at faculty, departmental and programme level from the Student Partnership team each Tuesday. Updating students in your area (perhaps via a Moodle board) on progress towards the 70% needed to qualify for the incentive scheme funds can provide great impetus to the campaign locally.  
3. In recent years, departments have also organised pizza parties and coffee mornings or similar events where students can complete the survey, which have been very popular and successful events. Please note, however, that any events should be optional for students, per the rules in the NSS 2022 Good Practice Guide from the Office for Students.  
4. Departments can also point to examples of how feedback from students has already inspired local improvements, reassuring students that their anonymised feedback will be carefully considered. You can find examples of UCL-wide change inspired by student feedback on the You Shaped UCL webpages.   

Why NSS response rates matter 

UCL and other Higher Education Institutions require a response rate of at least 50% to qualify for publication of NSS results. A 50% response rate (with at least 10 responses) is also required for programme-level publication of NSS results.  

UCL achieved a 72% response rate last year, and a similarly high response rate in departments will mean that scores are less likely to be skewed by “outliers” in student opinion. Securing a higher response rate also brings in more open text comments, which are often valuable in illuminating the reasons behind quantitative scores.    

Departments that achieve an NSS 2022 response rate of 70% or greater will qualify for an allocation of additional funds worth up to £1,500 to spend in collaboration with final-year undergraduates, in UCL’s NSS response rate incentive.