1. Expectation and Experience: A
view from the students
Caroline Dangerfield
President, University of Salford Students’ Union
HE Zone Committee, National Union of Students

2. Great Expectations?
•An assumption students will become more like
customers
•Logical step is we treat them this way
•Whose expectations?
•Does the expectation change from pre-application
to the end of the course?

3. Is a student ever truly a customer?
• A fully informed applicant with money in
their pocket that can easily take
elsewhere if dissatisfied?
• 76% students rely on student loan to
cover fees
• 68% to cover living costs
• 41% maintenance grant
• Transferring elsewhere not easy

4. Informed expectations
•49% of school leavers expected to be required to submit written work at
least once a week.
•Less likely to expect to use student loan to cover tuition fees
•KIS will enable students to become better informed about their choices.
Not to become more like customers but so they are able to make the best
decisions.
•However, by providing what are very specific types of information, we are
already setting students’ expectations.
•Students aren’t a homogenous group of people and their expectations
aren’t the same.

5. Expectation versus Want
•What we expect is not always a well informed expectation
•What we want not necessarily what we need.
•Comparison of American and British system – vast amounts
of money spent in the US on shallow student experience
•Shiny but not satisfying.
•An increase in tuition fees and rising expectations should
not necessarily equal new, shiny buildings.

6. Experience
• NUS worked with QAA on biggest ever
Student Experience research
• Research used multi method approach.
– National Online Survey
– Focus Groups
– Online discussion groups
– 5,000 respondents to the online survey
– 135 student participants in focus groups

7. Quality of Learning and Teaching
• 90.6% of students said lecturers/tutors
teaching skills were important or very
important.
• The next most important were interactive
groups teaching sessions (83.4%) and
library support (78.3%)
• Least important – internet discussion
forums (48%) and lecturers research
record (47.7%)

8. Interactive group sessions
“The seminars are great for tying up loose
ends and preparing you for further
lectures as well…I’ve found that seminars
are great for getting to know people on
your course. You get to talk to people
that you wouldn’t necessarily meet”
Male, Russell Group, 1st Year

9. What makes a good tutor?
– Specialist in their subject
– Experience of subject in working world
– Approachable
– Accessible
– Passionate
– Organised
– Using interactivity, technology, visual aids
– Sense of humour

10. Real relationship
“We have a lecturer…it’s like she’s not there
to make a living, she’s there because she
has a passion about us. It’s a fantastic
relationship and I don’t think there is
anyone in the tutor group who dislikes
her. She comes to our level and she gets
us. It is a real respectful relationship,
both ways.”
Male, Guild HE, 3rd Year

11. Who contributes to a good experience?

12. Assessment and Feedback
• Majority of student receive
assessment/feedback via marks (86.1%)
and written comments (77.9%)
• Difference in what students want and
what they receive 66.1% students want
verbal feedback in an individual meeting
with tutor and 42.3% receive it.

13. Enhancing learning and teaching
• More evidence of student demand for
interactive learning
• To improve quality of experience 50.2%
wanted more interactive group sessions.
• 43.3% more individual teaching sessions
• 41.9% more contact time with personal
tutor
• 8.4% lecturers with better academic
qualifications

14. Enhancement
• Link between smaller groups/seminars not
just with staff time but more time with
classmates.
• “I think a bit more group work would be
better. It would be good to hear other
people’s point of view. Basically it can bring
people closer and help with friendships.
More group work should be introduced.”
Male, Russell Group, 1st Year

15. The ‘perfect’ course plan

16. Student Engagement

17. Importance of true engagement
• Student involvement defined in terms of
the various means of feedback.
• 58.2% students believe feedback they
provide is acted upon
• 31.9% don’t know whether or not the
feedback they provide will be acted on.

18. Lack of empowerment
“Is it to do with the influence that we have
and the teaching style for example? We do
have the student reps and they can give
feedback…but it seems to me that it’s
almost like they have to have it. It doesn’t
seem to make much difference. I think it’s
just ticking boxes. I don’t think anything
actually changes throughout the year.”
Male, Guild HE, 3rd Year

19. Problem with timing
“I don’t think we’re involved with it. We’ve
experienced that if we make a complaint
nothing changes. It’s more of a procedure
than anything else….The worst thing that
we heard was that whatever you tell us
will help us design the course for next
year. It was not going to change things
this year.”
Male, Russell Group, Masters

20. Importance of feeding back
“Yeah we get feedback from the feedback.
If they can’t do something because of
something we weren’t aware of then
they have at least taken it on board. It’s
like they have tried at least to do
something.”
Male, Russell Group, 1st Year

21. Involvement in course design
• Still disconnect between how involved
students feel they are in shaping their
course content, curriculum or design and
how involved they want to.
• Preferred option – providing feedback on
course design, being a course
representative and being involved in
setting assessment criteria.

22. Students do accept responsibility

23. Partnership approach
• Partners do not just up and leave when
something goes wrong.
• Partners have a stake and a will to
continually make things better.
• Core purposes of University is to learn
how to critically evaluate and engage
constructively.

24. True engagement
• NUS/HEA Student Engagement Toolkit
• Moving from consultation to
involvement, participation and finally to
partnership should be the aim of both
students and institutions.
• Students engaged in consultation can be
‘tokenistic’
• Students as partners enables students to
feel greater ownership of the curriculum.

25. Conclusions
• Should not passively accept that because of fees, this
is the way things are going to be.
• Students will expect more and demand more.
• Appropriate information, advice and guidance pre-
application will allow students to make informed
choice.
• Induction period which lasts longer than 2 weeks will
ease transition period and manage expectations to
be more realistic and encourage engagement early
• Working with students as partners of learning leads
to something greater than a customer approach and
a UK HE sector we will all continue to be proud of.