| Chapter 7 | Student Feedback |
7.1 Student Feedback Systems: An Overview
Student feedback on diverse aspects of academic programmes is collected through structured mechanisms to support quality enhancement, including:
- early feedback collection exercises;
- course and teaching evaluation exercises;
- administration of various questionnaires pertaining to student learning;
- student membership in committees at programme/ department, faculty and university levels; and
- meetings between student representatives and management at programme/ department/ faculty and university levels as well as members of the Programme Review Panel and the Visiting Committee.
7.2 Early Feedback Collection
The Early Feedback Collection System (EFCS) is designed to capture student feedback on individual classes in the middle of the study term to complement the end-of-term Course and Teaching Evaluation (CTE) exercise.
In order for problems concerning course delivery to be identified and dealt with in a more timely manner, reports on the feedback collected will be made available for online access or download from the system by the relevant course teachers, Programme Directors/ Coordinators, Department Chairmen/ School Directors and Faculty Deans. Details of the operation of the EFCS are in Appendix 7-1.
7.3 Course and Teaching Evaluation
CTE is a key QA mechanism. It is carried out for each and every standard course (i.e. excluding project, research supervision, or thesis courses) in every taught programme offered at the University, usually towards the end of each term and is conducted online. Individual Faculties/ Departments/ programmes may also administer mid-term CTE if appropriate and necessary. Two common CTE questionnaires are used: one for evaluating courses taught by one to two teachers (Appendix 7-2), the other for evaluating courses co-taught by three or more teachers (Appendix 7-3).
Individual Faculties/ Departments/ programmes may include additional questions that prompt specific aspects pertinent to them.
The standard CTE questionnaires may not be applicable to courses that do not employ the conventional “lecture/ seminar” mode, e.g. project, research supervision, and thesis courses. Hence, offering departments/ units may devise their own CTE questionnaires for these courses accordingly. For courses co-taught by more than one Department, CTE should be coordinated among the Departments concerned.
Appendix 7-4 shows guidelines on conducting CTEs. CTE results are disseminated to course teachers, Departmental Chairmen/ Unit Heads, Programme Coordinators (for interdisciplinary programmes), and Faculty Deans. Follow-up actions are expected in response to the student feedback where appropriate. Course teachers should take CTE feedback seriously; they should certainly take CTE feedback into account when planning for future course offerings. CTE scores will inform personnel decisions related to individual teachers, including contract renewal, substantiation, promotion, extension, etc. Whenever conducive to enhancing T&L, results of the close-ended items may also be made available to students through controlled access.
7.4 Data Collection on Undergraduate Student Learning Experience
In addition to CTEs, surveys on students’ learning experience are regularly conducted at the programme/ institutional level. These surveys include:
- The Entry Class Questionnaire (Appendix 7-5), which collects student background information, self-perceived capabilities and expectation on university studies;
- The First Year Experience Questionnaire (Appendix 7-6), which collects student feedback on their learning in their first year of studies;
- The Student Experience Questionnaire (Appendix 7-7), which probes various aspects of Ug study at the University;
- The Undergraduate Exit Survey (Appendix 7-8), which collects student feedback on their learning outcomes and experience during their university education;
- The Graduate Capabilities Questionnaire (Appendix 7-9), which examines how well students’ Ug education has prepared them for employment/ further studies; and
- The Alumni Questionnaire (Appendix 7-10), which examines how well students’ Ug education has prepared them for employment/ further studies in a five-year hindsight.
Results of these surveys are sent to the Faculties/ Departments/ programmes/ Units/ Committees concerned, which not only facilitate curriculum and pedagogical review, but also help relevant units identify potential areas for improvement and further development. The data they yield are also a rich source for T&L research work, which is encouraged at the University and governed by a data access policy (Appendix 7-11).
7.5 Exit Surveys for Research and Taught Postgraduate Students
All RPg and TPg students are invited to complete an exit survey upon graduation (Appendix 7-12 and Appendix 7-13 respectively). The aim of the surveys is to collect student feedback on a wide range of T&L issues, including quality of academic supervision, and campus life.
Results are reported to the GC, and forwarded to the relevant Faculties, Graduate Divisions, Programme Directors, and relevant administrative units for reference and follow-up. Details are available in Section 11 of the Code of Practice for Taught Postgraduate Studies (Appendix 2-9) and Code of Practice for Research Postgraduate Studies (Appendix 2-11) respectively.
7.6 Staff-student Interactions
Staff-student interactions, both formal and informal, are another key feedback channel in T&L. Staff-student consultative meetings are held at various levels, ranging from the Senate Staff- Student Consultative Committee to consultative meetings organized by individual Departments/ programmes. Feedback is followed up by Programme Committees or Department Boards, which is monitored by programme reviews. Likewise, student input is also sought via student membership in Faculty Boards, Senate and its committees, and is followed up by the respective committees.