5 July 2007

To	Heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions Heads of universities in Northern Ireland

Direct Line	0117 931 7300
Direct Fax	0117 931 7203

Circular letter number 19/2007

For further information contact Louisa Baker, tel 0117 931 7106, e-mail l.baker@hefce.ac.uk

Dear Vice-Chancellor or Principal

Access to the 2007 National Student Survey results and launch of the Unistats web-site

1. This letter provides information to institutions on how to access their 2007 National Student Survey (NSS) results. It also details plans for the launch of the new 'Unistats' site, which replaces the existing Teaching Quality Information (TQI) web-site.

2. The NSS forms part of our revised Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) and is now in its third year. This year's NSS received a very positive endorsement from students, with a 60 per cent response rate and 81 per cent overall satisfaction. As a result there will be more data published than ever before, which will support potential students to make choices about what and where to study. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have worked to make this possible.

Publication of the results

3. The NSS results are published on the TQI web-site. However, from this summer the site will change. Following the recommendations of the QAF review (HEFCE 2006/45 Review of the Quality Assurance Framework: phase two outcomes) we ¹ appointed UCAS (the admissions service for universities and colleges) to re-develop the site to be more user-focused. As a result UCAS has developed a site that delivers more functions for applicants and students along with a new brand and visual identity for the site. It also has a new name: from this summer the TQI web-site will be called 'Unistats', with the strapline 'from universities and colleges in the UK'.

4. The results of the 2007 NSS and other TQI data will be published on this new site. More details, including arrangements to preview the 2007 NSS results, are at Annex A.

5. The new site will also reflect feedback that resulted from our 2006 consultation (see HEFCE Circular Letter 08/2007: Development of TQI and the NSS: outcomes of consultation). Following the outcomes of this consultation, the steering group sought further advice regarding what the publication threshold should be set at for the NSS results. The Expert Threshold Group (see Annex C for membership) recommended that the threshold should be set at a 50 per cent response rate and at least 23 students responding. More details are available at Annex A.

6. In 2008 the NSS will be repeated in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some institutions in Scotland, in collaboration with the National Union of Students. We ² have appointed Ipsos MORI to undertake the 2008 survey, and it will operate in the same way as the 2007 survey. We will write to institutions later this year with further details. Ipsos MORI has a contact database for the purposes of the NSS; if you are not the contact and should be, please contact the NSS Email Helpline nss@ipsos-mori.com.

7. If you have any queries about anything in this letter please contact my colleague Louisa Baker on 0117 931 7106 or l.baker@hefce.ac.uk.

Yours sincerely

Professor David Eastwood
Chief Executive

Notes

1. On behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DEL) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

2. On behalf of HEFCW and DEL

Download

Circular letter number 19/2007

Access to the 2007 National Student Survey results and launch of the Unistats web-site

Publication of the results

Notes

Download

Annex A

Annex B

Annex C

Annex D

Annex E