Interpreting context to the UK’s National Student (Satisfaction) Survey data for science subjects

Universities capture and use student feedback to improve the student experience, but how should information from national scale surveys be used at local and institutional levels? The authors explored the UK’s National Student (Satisfaction) Survey (NSS) data relevant to science and engineering programmes using percentages of students who were satisfied or very satisfied. For brevity, one NSS national dataset was explored, but the patterns found were consistent for the following year. Simple exploratory data analysis techniques underlined the care that is needed when interpreting NSS outputs, corroborating previous research into its international precursors. Factor analysis supported claims of a high internal consistency of the survey. Subject groupings showed consistent differences in responses, with some subjects consistently recording higher satisfaction. This reduces the usefulness of the NSS for comparing different subject groupings within a university. Universities provide different subject compositions, so direct comparisons between institutions are not straightforward. Subject groupings should be compared only against similar subjects, and then with due care to understand the complexity of satisfaction. Further analysis of national questionnaires like this is required to contextualise its outputs. For example, there is a national trend of low satisfaction with assessment feedback in all subjects, but the relationship between feedback satisfaction and overall satisfaction is complex. There are marked differences between subjects which may, in science subjects, be associated with mathematical content. There is scope for future elucidations of the ‘overall satisfaction’ value and for use of the measures of dissatisfaction.     

上海市高校专职辅导员工作满意度调查与分析

通过问卷调查,查阅相关资料,了解上海市高校专职辅导员目前的工作满意度状况,从自我认同、社会认同、工作环境、工作效果四个维度,对不同性别、不同年龄、不同工作年限、带班学生人数不同进行调查分析。结果显示:辅导员总体满意度较高,但在各维度上的表现却有较大不同。不同性别的辅导员在工作环境、总体满足感上呈显著差异;不同年龄的辅导员社会认同呈显著性差异;带班学生人数差异,工作满意度在社会认同、工作环境、工作效果及总体满足感上均存在非常显著的差异。     

Antecedents and Consequences of Student Satisfaction with e-Learning: The Case of Private Universities in Egypt

The current study aims to measure the importance of e-service quality, interactivity, comfort, and familiarity on student satisfaction and behavioral intentions with e-learning in private universities in Egypt. Data from a sample of private university students were collected. Using structural equation modeling, e-service quality, interactivity, comfort, and familiarity were found to be positively related to student satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The mediating role of student satisfaction was not supported, however. The research implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Managing Quality by Action Research—Improving Quality Service Delivery in Higher Education as a Marketing Strategy

ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates how the use of self directed and self initiated research by staff in an International Office in one of Australia's largest universities can be a useful tool in improving the quality performance of service delivery to full fee paying international students as a deliberate means of improving the marketable image of the university, accepting that the university marketing strategy recognises that ‘word of mouth’ or informal marketing forms one part of the overall scheme. This paper describes two action research projects undertaken by staff in the International Office to engender improved quality of service delivery and subsequently an improved image of the university in the process of informal marketing. The results of the action research projects have produced specific outcomes, further planning and changes to management practices in the International Office, all related to improving the quality of services being delivered and the quality of management, a strategy that can be adopted in universities worldwide. Each research project was small, but facilitated changes or improvement to a target, strategically identified and discussed with management. These projects did not occur as strategic parts of an overall marketing plan, but were recognised as making contributions to effective outcomes of the existing marketing process. The paper then discusses the role of management in employee empowerment and the action research process arguing that management's role is to ensure that stimuli such as this are not Stifled.     

College Choice in a Brand Elimination Framework: The High School Student's Perspective

ABSTRACT

Universities have belatedly recognized that they must consider their marketing strategies if they are to remain viable in the increasingly competitive market. In order to provide a logical framework through which to evaluate recruiting strategies, more needs to be known about the process which high school students utilize in college choice. This paper reports on two studies of high school students designed to examine college choice in a brand elimination framework. The paper then goes on to compare these results to what is known about the recruiting strategies of institutions of higher education. Recommendations are made to improve the effectiveness of these recruiting efforts.     

Personal Well-Being of Gifted Students Following Participation in an Early College-Entrance Program

In this study, life satisfaction and its correlates were explored through analysis of the experiences and psychological traits of highly gifted students who were accelerated into an early college-entrance program. Happiness, fulfillment in life, assuredness, and good dispositions are constructs that point toward positive character development and thriving. These early college entrants expressed greater global satisfaction with their lives than age peers. They specifically reported elevated levels of satisfaction in their achievements, immediate standard of living, personal safety, and future security than age peers. They expressed powerful feelings of general self-efficacy and high levels of trait seriousness, two constructs related to facilitating success. The findings in this study suggest these early college entrants are on a path toward personal thriving and living a good life.     

A comparative analysis of study satisfaction among young European higher education graduates

This article identifies those aspects of the academic environment that are associated with graduates' overall satisfaction with their higher education (HE) course. We use REFLEX data, which allow comparison among 14 European countries, based on a pooled sample and individual country regressions. Overall, the degree of satisfaction with HE studies appears to be driven to a great extent by the academic environment. The results also confirm the persistence of country-specific traits in different HE systems. This substantial variation among European countries in terms of learning environment may have an influence on subsequent employment experience. While some systems encourage independent learning through participation in research projects, others rely heavily on direct teaching as the main source of information.     

Computing and Educational Research:

No abstract available for this article.     

Counting blessings versus misfortunes: positive interventions and subjective well-being of Chinese school teachers in Hong Kong

This study compared a gratitude intervention approach with a coping intervention approach in promoting subjective well-being in a sample of 78 Hong Kong Chinese school teachers. Forty teachers were randomly assigned to the eight-week count-your-blessings condition and 38 teachers to the eight-week count-your-misfortunes condition. Increases in life satisfaction were observed in the post-intervention assessment for both approaches. However, statistically significant changes were observed on life satisfaction and the experience of negative and gratitude-related emotions only for the gratitude intervention approach, suggesting the relative effectiveness of the count-your-blessings exercise. Implications of the findings on developing intervention approaches that encompass counting positive and negative events for promoting subjective well-being are discussed.     

Communication and aging: A study of the effects of cohort‐centrism and perceived decoding ability on communication competence and communication satisfaction

From a sample of 190 males and females (120 “young,”; 70 “old"), this study sought to determine differences in perceived levels of communication competence and communication satisfaction as a function of the main and joint effects of cohort‐centrism and perceived decoding ability. Analyses provided only weak support for the joint effects. However, older persons considered their conversational partners, whether young or old, to be more competent than did younger persons. Also, on the whole, older persons were more satisfied conversing with young persons, while younger persons were less satisfied, regardless of the age of the conversational partner. Those who perceived themselves as high decoders rated their partners as more competent than did those who perceived themselves as low decoders, and high decoders were also more satisfied with the interaction than low decoders. Cohort‐centrism was supported only in the case of low‐decoding older persons.