Can’t get no satisfaction?

The NSS results are in, and, predictably, we once more rank fairly low down the list. Turn to page 4 to see the full coverage.

Now for the yearly ‘why is this?’ question. The answer is probably the old cop out: it’s not just one specific thing, it’s multiple factors all weighing in. I hate reading a sentence like that as it makes me feel like an arse for writing it, but I’ll have a go at dissecting it a bit.

First of all, let’s ask: are we really all unhappy? Or, alternatively, are we just a lot more honest, frank, brutal, and, at times, bitter with our university experience? Perhaps we all just love a good moan, and other students are all about bigging up how great their university is? Perhaps I’m going to ask another question? I probably will at some point, don’t you panic, you panicky reader you.

Here’s problem number one with the survey: it’s subjective. That’s true of all surveys, but when it can determine how highly a university is regarded, and possibly what quality of students it can attract (i.e. top students, such as you reading this) the issue of subjectivity becomes important. One student’s idea of “good feedback” is by no means the same as another student's. This is the point of asking everyone: normalising (if that’s the word?) the results a bit, so that individual extremes don’t bias them too much. However, that really doesn’t always work. If you have an entire body of students that have different expectations, then of course they will skew the results.

I honestly can’t say for sure why we are unhappy, or even if we are. I know that’s not a bold statement, but it’s a true one. However, I’ll give my two cents, and they may be wrong, but I’ll speak my mind.

I think that the workload hits us. Think about it: if you’re at XYZ wasteman university doing 1 hour of work a week and being told you’re God’s gift to your chosen discipline (i.e. getting a first), then when someone says “are you satisfied with your course”, the answer is bound to be an expletive filled proclamation of it being incredible.

Feedback is where we really get kicked squarely in a place you don’t want to get kicked. Why do we score so low on this year after year? I think that there really is one factor that is the primary reason: we expect a lot. This is actually a good thing. We are at a good university, which always tells us that they are in the Golden Triangle and are battling it out with Oxbridge for Galactic dominance or something. So, yeah, we should expect a lot. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t exactly be aiming for the stars like a daredevil with a newspaper’s name now would we?

Enough pontification. Thinking is good, but action is sometimes needed. In my humble opinion, the best way to improve feedback is standardisation. I hate bureaucracy as much as the next person, but if you have a non restricting, non time consuming method of feedback, which sets a bare minimum that the marker must do and say, you will be on your way to a better system. From there onwards, you can drive up the standards of feedback. Those going above and beyond are able to do so, and are not restricted. Those doing the bare minimum would at least be doing a level deemed to be good. This would, of course, have to be done in conjunction with the PhDs, lecturers, and everyone else marking the work. Then a system that the undergraduates are happy with, and that is not dumping absurd amounts of work on the postgraduates would be found. College should search for this, as I’m sure they can come up with something if they put their head’s together.

One last point to note is that this is not a thorough dissection on my part. I wish I had more time to think about this, and more space to write about it. Therefore, I apologise for the brevity and lack of depth in this editorial.