NSS 2019 FAQs

NSS 2019 – FAQs

1. What is the NSS?

The National Student Survey is social research survey of final year students in universities across the UK. It is commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS) on behalf of funding bodies to ensure current students have the opportunity to tell future students what they think about the quality of their course.

The results are also widely published to provide transparency and assurance to the general public about the quality of UK higher education. It also provides institutions with data on the overall student experience and can be a useful guide for identifying the areas that are working well and those that can be improved upon.

2. Why does Abertay participate?

Abertay has been participating in the survey since 2012 and has found it to be a useful guide for identifying the areas that are running effectively within the institution and where improvements can be made.

Student feedback has directly informed a number of improvements such as the recent £5.2m Library renovation (where 200+ students were consulted in a co-design exercise), a significant reduction in coursework feedback times, and many programme-specific enhancements.

These include:

Accounting and Finance

• Review and analysis of all Module Focus Groups
• Employability workshops and support
• Access to Professional Bodies e.g. ACCA, CIMA etc.

Biomedical Sciences

• Improved Labs
• Timetable improvements

Food, Nutrition and Health

• International Placements and Internships (Italy, Singapore, Vietnam, Spain Germany)
• Industry-sponsored studentships

Sociology

• Choice of honours project
• Increase in guest speakers and trips

Criminlogy

• Substantive changes to available modules
• More placement opportunities

Civil Engineering

• 'Constructionarium Week'
• Improved preparation of Guaranteed Placement Scheme
• Expansion of practical aspects

Mental Health Nursing

• Clinical placements allocated for the year in August
• Weekly Professional Practice groups

Sport and Exercise

• New facilities
• Internships

Marketing and Business / Business Management

• Student engagement in the recruitment of new teaching staff
• Improved facilities in Old College (new heating etc.)

Forensic Sciences

• Better routes of contact with staff
• Practice sessions for Moot Court
• Lab skills refreshers
• New Forensic Toxicology module

Psychology

• Enhanced learning community - regular events, meetings and projects
• Valuable input towards module and assessment development

Computer Games Technology

• More opportunities to develop specialist skills in 4th year
• Upgrading lab PCs

Computer Arts / Games Design and Production

• Pairing of honours year students with supervisors in Semester One Week Eight rather than Semester Two Week One. 
• Honours year dissertation tutorials
• Curriculum revisions included the updating of DES401 Professional Contexts and increased specialisation options in Year 3. 

4. Why should I take part?

Participating in the NSS gives you an opportunity to share your thoughts about a range of topics including the teaching on your course, assessment processes and feedback, available resources, the Students Association, and the University as a whole. Although you will not directly benefit from any suggestions you make, your ideas can help shape the experience of future generations of students.

Furthermore, your participation will contribute to the University’s overall response rate, which needs to be 50% or higher (and a minimum of 10 respondents per programme) for results to be valid. As Abertay is a relatively small institution, we require as many final year students to take part as possible to ensure we can extract meaningful results. By not completing the survey, there is a risk to the views of your classmates being heard.

5. Are there any incentives for taking part?

As a thank you to students for taking the time to complete the survey, every participant has the option to be entered into a prize draw for one of 15 x £30 Amazon vouchers.