Impact of institutional leadership on the NSS

 

A recent paper (Pickford, 2013) has explored how institutional leadership can impact on the use of National Student Survey (NSS) data to improve the student experience.

The author analysed the outcomes of the NSS at an institutional level in one post-1992 UK university to come to an understanding of the perceived factors behind changes in NSS results and to identify the possible impact of institutional-level quality enhancement interventions.

This paper argues that:

1. the NSS could be as much an indicator of organisational culture as a measure of student satisfaction with courses;
2. areas that students highlight as being important tend to be consistent;
3. regardless of the foci or type of interventions, senior staff level engagement is a critical factor in achieving high NSS scores and enhancing student satisfaction.

 

Reference:

Pickford, R (2013), Leadership of the National Student Survey for enhancement, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 344-358