What Really Matters to Students? A deep dive into this year’s WUSCA review trends Sli.do #WUID19

131 institutions across the UK 9 categories The Data Set Over 41,000 reviews 131 institutions across the UK 9 categories WUSCAs has 160 institutions and 15 categories, but today we’re looking at just the 131 institutions included in the 9 main tables. Other categories have smaller sample sizes Sli.do #WUID19

Results Overview 1

Summary 69 universities up for University of the Year vs 2018 55 universities down England, Northern Ireland and Wales up on 2018 for University of the Year, with Scotland marginally down All categories up year-on-year except Clubs & Societies The average increase of the 69 is higher than the average decrease for the 55 that fell Sli.do #WUID19

Categories University of the Year rated more highly than any other category Clubs & Societies received the lowest score Uni of the Year once again highest ranked Clubs & Societies was third bottom last year Sli.do #WUID19

Year-on-Year Student Support up by more than any other category Clubs & Societies the only to fall 83 institutions up YoY for Student Support. Corresponds to a 2% rise. 72 institutions down YoY for Clubs and Societies. 2% decrease. Sli.do #WUID19

Country Strong Welsh performance Despite year-on-year improvements, England and Scotland still behind Wales Scotland matching Wales for City Life Explain the Radar chart thoroughly! What the colours are, further from the centre the better etc THEN talk through the bullet points Wales has improved year on year across all categories. England improved in most categories, including the 5 included here, whilst Scotland declined for Accommodation and University of the Year

Mission Groups Russell Group stands out for Clubs & Societies Million+ narrowly ahead for Course & Lecturers University Alliance out in front for Student Support All 3 declined for Clubs & Societies All 3 rose for Course & Lecturers All 3 rose for Student Support We will have customisable and interactive charts at insights drop in

What is Important to Students? 2

Category Recap Just considering the ones with the full 131 university sample Which of the 8 categories below University of the Year do you think has the strongest relationship

Course and Lecturers Each dot represents a university The more diagonal the line is, the stronger the relationship Strongest relationship of any category with University of the Year For every extra point for Course & Lecturers, we’d expect an extra 0.77 points for University of the Year Sli.do #WUID19

Other Notable Relationships 0.6 up for Student Support 0.57 for Job Prospects 0.54 for Uni Facilities

City Life No relationship at all – students do not factor City Life into their evaluation of overall satisfaction True even if we restrict the data to only institutions in cities True over time Sli.do #WUID19

City Life Historically

Is City Life Irrelevant to Students? No! 30,000 Chatbot responses 67% of responses include Big City, and 25% specify only Big City City Life important to lots of prospective students Mention the one time we will briefly step away from WUSCA data

City Life Takeaways For future students, being in a big city is an important factor in the decision making process – a key point for recruiters! For current students, the city life has no bearing on how they rate their overall university experience Good news – the one thing you can’t really do much about, but it doesn’t matter! Sli.do #WUID19

How Are You Supporting Your Students? Student Support has the second strongest correlation with University of the Year Therefore, it’s reasonable to think that finding ways to improve support for students will improve their overall experience We might expect students to feel most supported by their Students’ Unions and their Course & Lecturers The review form specifically tells them to think Academic support and Personal eg counselling

How Are You Supporting Your Students?

How Are You Supporting Your Students? There is a much stronger association with Student Support for Course and Lecturers, than for Students’ Union Your context will determine how to interpret this: Could Students’ Unions be doing more to support students? Are students at your institution getting the academic support they need? Might be time for this in the Student Advisory Board panel later

What Have We Learned? Broad WUSCA trends All categories up except Clubs & Societies Strong Welsh performance Student opinion on Course & Lecturers has the biggest impact on University of the Year City Life doesn’t factor into the overall experience, but is important to prospective students making decisions Academic support seems to have a stronger bearing on how supported students feel than Students’ Unions How you interpret this depends on your context! Come over to the Insights Stand

Thanks for listening! Sli.do #WUID19