Oxford University is considering passing finalists’ information on to pollsters in a bid to improve feedback on student satisfaction.
The news comes as the Conservatives announce their proposals to improve student feedback nationally with the creation of a central online service in which students will be able to rate their tutors.
At present, Oxford is the only institution in the UK that does not publish its student satisfaction results online, as it does not receive enough feedback on the issue.
A spokesperson for the University said the NSS “allows us to benchmark student responses against other Russell Group universities. The lower the response rate to a survey, the less reliable it is perceived, and the less we can be sure about the accuracy of the feedback in the survey.”
OUSU have passed a motion suggesting the University be permitted to give the phone numbers of finalists to polling companies three to four weeks after the survey has been sent to students. Plans are not yet finalised and contact details would only be passed on in the event that less than 45% of students respond to the survey.
Richard Holland, St. Anne’s JCR VP for Access and Academic Affairs believes “if it’s done well, it shouldn’t be a problem”, stressing the importance of allowing students to opt out of the scheme. He claimed it is a good idea, provided there are enough “safeguards”.
Sarah Reder, a second year student at St. Hilda’s commented, “I don’t like the idea of my details being given out to organisations, but if I can opt out, I’m happy for the plan to go ahead.”
Students sharing their experiences of courses will also be key to Tory plans for improving information on Universities available to the public.
Speaking at the CBI’s Higher education summit in London this week, David Willetts, shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has outlined his plan for the service. Mr Willetts insisted there was a need for such a service, “We are expecting [students] to make important choices about courses and institutions without enabling them to be as well informed as they could be.”
The website would also contain information about employment prospects for graduates from particular courses and institutions, and feedback from current students.
Willets said, “We already collect quite a lot of data about, for example, employment after 6 months and after 3 years, but it is not currently available in a detailed or usable form that is easily accessible for potential students. This has to change.”
Sites that already provide a similar service have attracted criticism in the past. Ratemyprofessor.com allows students to rate their lecturers on “easiness”, “helpfulness”, “clarity” and “hotness”,and allows students to post comments. Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union, said such sites could lead to “serious online and offline bullying. If students have real concerns about their lecturers, they should go through the proper channels and try to resolve the issue.”
Jonny Medland, OUSU VP for Access and Academic Affairs, says such a public feedback system could be avoided, “If universities take action now then hopefully we can avoid students resorting to posting feedback online to try and get their universities to take notice of their views.”
Will Sentance, a PPEist at St John’s, was concerned the proposed website would require too much regulation to prevent bullying to be effective, “If it is being regulated you won’t get any comments of any use, so I don’t think it is necessarily a good idea.”
