Note on the Student Satisfaction Survey

Context:

From 2017 onwards the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) has endeavoured to conduct a Student Experience Survey the results of which will go into the accreditation process. The Survey will capture student responses through the list of students provided by the Higher education institutes (HEIs). The students will remain anonymous throughout the process. The institution is supposed to send a list of total student strength, with details of their student ID number, Aadhaar ID number (Any other Valid ID No. in the absence of Aadhaar), degree programme, email id and mobile number. NAAC will send online link to the survey to the email address/mobile no of the student, and the student will have to fill the survey before a stipulated date.

About questionnaire:

The questionnaire will be based on the Likert type scale, that means the responses are scaled on a scale of 0 to 4, with the most positive response being rated as 4 and the most negative response being rated as 0. The score emerging out of the survey is part of the second criterion on Teaching—Learning and Evaluation, out of the seven NAAC criteria. The questionnaire consists of several facets of the teaching learning process. Questions vary from specific teaching skills of the teacher, to his overall approach to the educational process. Specific skills of the teacher like, subject knowledge, communication skills, class preparation, and use of ICT tools are part of the questionnaire. The overall approach of the teacher and institution with respect to providing the right environment, motivation, interpersonal relationships, feedback etc. forms the second major component of the questionnaire. Twenty of the twenty one questions are objective in nature, while one question is open ended to elicit observations and suggestions for improvements providing an opportunity to the student to give suggestions and criticisms in their own words. Analysis of the survey would be done using software which will aggregate the responses and generate the score. The score will range from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 4 on a five point scale and would affect the overall score of second criteria on Teaching-Learning and evaluation. Responses to the open ended question would also be aggregated to find out the most common suggestion and criticisms emerging out of the survey.

Process:

The survey analysis score will be used as a key component of accreditation. A predetermined weightage is also assigned to this key indicator in this accreditation framework. A stratified random sample of students will be chosen for the survey. Response rate below 10% will not be considered. In sample, students would be spread evenly across different classes, year of enrolment and gender as far as possible. The HEIs are required to submit data of all students. (Class wise with name, e-mail & mobile number and Aadhaar number) The institution, teachers; should not by any way try to influence the students with respect to the survey. This will ensure genuine feedback for the institute to improve further.

Analysis of questionnaire:

There are twenty objective questions in the questionnaire and one open ended question.

Analysis of objective questions:

There are twenty objective questions and students will respond on a scale of 4 to 0, with the most positive response rated as 4 and most negative response rated as 0. The mean score for each question will be calculated and the overall mean will be arrived at. This figure will range from 4 to 0 and will give the mean satisfaction level of the students for the particular institute. This figure in the range of 4 to 0 will be the score of key indicator ‘Student Satisfaction Survey’ (2.7.1) which is part of criterion II on Teaching – Learning and Evaluation

Analysis of the open-ended question:

The students are asked to give three observations/suggestions to improve the overall teaching– learning experience in the institution. Analysis would be carried out by aggregating the most occurring suggestions in the student responses. This would provide an idea of the most general expectations, observations and suggestions from the students. This Information can be provided to peer team conducting onsite visit, to be used for validation as well as peer team report preparation.