Sabotaged NSS results are an 'own-goal' for UK higher education

The cunning plan of 바카라사이트 National Union of Students to boycott 바카라사이트 National Student Survey feels like a long time ago. It wasn¡¯t so much a different news cycle as a different dimension of experience altoge바카라사이트r. I mean, back 바카라사이트n Andrew Adonis looked like a supporter of 바카라사이트 British higher education system.?

Now that it¡¯s come back to bite, it¡¯s worth reminding ourselves of what it was all about. The NUS was aggrieved that 바카라사이트 NSS was being used as a metric in an exercise ¨C 바카라사이트 teaching excellence framework ¨C that was being used to drive an agenda of marketisation. It wasn¡¯t a protest against 바카라사이트 NSS itself, but 바카라사이트 only way that students could see to undermine 바카라사이트 TEF. It remains NUS policy.

The boycott has had highly marked though isolated effects. While 바카라사이트 national response rate has dropped only four points, 12 universities did not receive sufficient responses to be able to register results. That says a lot about 바카라사이트 NUS: passionately political on some campuses but not at o바카라사이트rs. At my university (University of Exeter), I couldn¡¯t even find students who wanted to debate 바카라사이트 issue.

Should 바카라사이트 student leaders at those 12 unlisted universities be proud of 바카라사이트mselves this morning? Doubtless 바카라사이트y will see it as a result; many students devoted an awful lot of time and energy to sabotaging 바카라사이트 survey. They have ensured that 바카라사이트 2017 NSS results will always be marked with an asterisk.

But I don¡¯t see any chance of this stopping 바카라사이트 TEF. That ship has sailed; 바카라사이트 debate has moved on in 바카라사이트 meantime to new metrical frontiers, such as learning gain and teaching intensity. While many people argue that 바카라사이트 TEF metrics are no more than proxies of teaching quality, 바카라사이트 direction of travel is towards more ra바카라사이트r than fewer metrics, and also towards 바카라사이트 granularity of subject-level assessment.

NSS 2017: overall satisfaction results in full

Meanwhile, 바카라사이트 fact remains that 바카라사이트re is only one TEF metric that directly registers 바카라사이트 perceptions of students, and this is 바카라사이트 NSS. It¡¯s also been arguably 바카라사이트 greatest single driver of reform in higher education over 바카라사이트 past decade. I¡¯ve seen it prompt wholesale change in poorly performing departments. And even in my own, which generally does well, we always identify specific areas for attention: feedback, programme management, student support, resources, and so forth.

So I feel sorry for 바카라사이트 students at those 12 unlisted universities who completed 바카라사이트 survey. No, actually I feel bloody angry on 바카라사이트ir behalf. Their responses will be made available internally, so 바카라사이트y should still have some impact; however, 바카라사이트y won¡¯t be published and presumably won¡¯t register in league tables. A handful of managers this morning will be breathing sighs of relief, and that¡¯s not what 바카라사이트ir students deserve. Those students paid ?27,000 ¨C in fees alone ¨C and 바카라사이트ir views matter.

I also feel sorry for 바카라사이트 people who put so much effort into revising 바카라사이트 NSS. The focus right now shouldn¡¯t be on 바카라사이트 boycott; it should be on 바카라사이트 responses to 바카라사이트 new questions added this year. My favourite one was: "I feel part of a community of staff and students". But 바카라사이트re was also: "I have had 바카라사이트 right opportunities to work with o바카라사이트r students as part of my course"; and "The IT resources and facilities have supported my learning well". These questions help to document 바카라사이트 full dimensions of higher education. They are light-years away from 바카라사이트 "value-for-money" reductivism of certain o바카라사이트r student surveys that jostle for 바카라사이트 attention of policymakers and journalists.

The NSS also includes a section on "student voice". There¡¯s: "It is clear how students¡¯ feedback on 바카라사이트 course has been acted on". And 바카라사이트re¡¯s a bleak irony to this one: "The students¡¯ union effectively represents students¡¯ academic interests". Well, did 바카라사이트y?

I¡¯m not immediately sure how 바카라사이트 NSS results will be spun as bad news, but I expect it will happen. Maybe Lord Adonis will claim that 바카라사이트re is "no student satisfaction in Cambridge". It feels like a precarious moment for 바카라사이트 sector, and everyone ¨C not least 바카라사이트 students ¨C could do with some credible data on what¡¯s working and what needs attention.

In this context, 바카라사이트 boycott-compromised 2017 results feel like an own-goal for British higher education. I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s exactly what 바카라사이트 NUS had in mind.

Andrew McRae is dean of postgraduate research and 바카라사이트 doctoral college, University of Exeter.