A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

91

October 2018

"I have offended both God and humanity because
the quality of my work has not been high enough"
Leonardo da Vinci

The National Students Survey (NSS) has been carried out since 2005 in the United Kingdom where it is one of the main instruments used to analyse the quality of higher education programmes of study. It is quite simply a survey made up of 27 specific questions, which captures feedback from final-year undergraduate students. With a participation of around 70% of final-year students, the data from the survey provide a determinate picture of a system that consists of more than 350 universities and colleges.

I stress the term "a determinate picture", because the data are clearly subjective, as in any survey, and there is also a margin or error, regardless of the high level of participation. Of course, this does not invalidate the data, and neither can they serve as an excuse for anyone who might not like the findings and say things like "they're not representative", "the only ones who respond are the ones who are discontent", or "It doesn't show what's actually going on in the classroom". Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it is never possible to obtain an accurate picture of current reality, this is clearly an example of a system with much more accurate information than others that base their decision-making on vague opinions.

In this context, AQU Catalunya and the universities in Catalonia started the graduate satisfaction survey, which is a similar project, three years ago. It involves the very simple and clear data acquisition procedure in the form of a survey with 22 questions that are identical for all of the universities in Catalonia. The first results, by degree programme and based on around 17,000 graduates who took part, have already been made publicly available at EUC Dades. 

So, overall, what are the results that have been obtained? Available at, the report shows that the overall satisfaction rating of graduates with their university in Catalonia is 7, on a scale of 0 to 10. A case-by-case analysis, however, shows that the differences are often significant. Likewise, in general, the conclusions are similar across degree programmes within each teaching facility, although this is not so much the case when comparing faculties in the same higher education institution. I recommend that readers view and explore the data in detail.

Satisfaction with learning outcomes and student support is quite high in general, at around 7 out of 10, although there is still a long way to go as regards the teaching and learning process. Notwithstanding the recognition of teaching staff quality at universities in Catalonia, the rating for aspects such as tutorial support, course coordination, systems of assessment, etc., was much lower, at between 5 and 6.

It remains to be seen how these ratings develop in the coming years, but it is worth bearing in mind that satisfaction with a service like university education is ultimately nothing more than the difference between expectations and perceptions. Together with the evidence that the universities and other HEIs in Catalonia have greatly improved in recent years, and I believe that everyone is aware of this, the students' expectations have also increased, which means that there continues to be a gap for improvement. So even though we may have achieved a high rating of 7, according to traditional values for academic assessment, there are still 3 out of 10 to improve on. One should bear in mind also that the expectations of new students with the universities may well increase, which could ultimately result in a decrease in their satisfaction.

One might believe that the glass is quite full but when it comes to the quality of higher education, we need to be thinking in terms of the glass being totally full.