What support matters most in tourism, transport and travel programmes?
Published Jun 16, 2024 · Updated Oct 12, 2025
student supporttourism, transport and travelFast, human responses from staff and predictable programme organisation make the biggest difference. Across the National Student Survey (NSS) student support comments, 68.6% are Positive and 29.7% Negative (index 32.9), signalling that students value support when it is responsive and resolved quickly. Within tourism, transport and travel, the subject grouping used for sector benchmarking, students focus most on the people who teach them (≈10.6% of comments) while remote learning sentiment is notably weak (index ~−31.2). These sector touchpoints shape the priorities below: consistent tutor contact, usable online platforms, visible wellbeing provision, and unambiguous technical guidance.
Addressing the specific needs of students in tourism, transport, and travel studies requires a detailed analysis of the unique hurdles they face throughout their educational journey. These students navigate complex subjects that combine theoretical knowledge with practical applications, so support structures must fit their educational dynamics. Starting their courses, students must assimilate substantial information and apply it in real-world scenarios. Enhancing the student experience hinges on robust support systems and listening to the student voice through text analysis of feedback and surveys. Staff and institutions should continually assess and adapt support strategies to meet evolving needs. By examining support structures and students' perspectives, teams can tailor approaches to maximise educational outcomes and satisfaction.
Where is tutor support and communication falling short?
Feedback from students in tourism, transport, and travel programmes highlights variable tutor support and communication. Some staff provide timely and empathetic guidance; others leave students waiting or feeling overlooked, with delays to queries and limited interest in academic progress. This unevenness depresses satisfaction and attainment. Institutions should audit response standards, publish expected response times, and offer mentoring on effective academic advising. Regular monitoring of communication practices and revising module delivery in light of student comments sustains an environment where students feel valued and supported.
How can online learning platforms reduce friction rather than add it?
Students report that complex or unintuitive virtual learning environments hinder engagement with resources, assessment briefs, and progress tracking. Platforms should prioritise straightforward navigation, consistent labelling, and predictable pathways to core activities. Provide short tutorial videos, interactive guides, and visible routes to timely technical support. Rapid triage for access issues and prompt feedback on digital queries keep learning uninterrupted, particularly for cohorts balancing placements with on‑campus study.
What support works for finalists and international students?
Final-year students need coordinated academic, careers, and wellbeing support as they transition into work, while international students often require structured orientation, language scaffolding, and culturally aware guidance. Buddy systems, targeted induction refreshers, and named contacts reduce uncertainty. Review these offers in real time and adapt them to placement cycles and visa, finance, or travel requirements typical in this discipline, ensuring equitable access to services and information.
How do we make lecturer engagement consistently high?
Students describe inconsistent lecturer presence, feedback quality, and availability. Standardise core practices: regular contact hours, transparent turnaround times, and constructive, developmental feedback aligned to marking criteria. Offer peer observation and short, focused enhancement workshops. Use student comments to calibrate content and delivery, then evidence changes to the cohort so students see their feedback shaping teaching.
Which communication practices sustain engagement?
Personalised communication builds confidence; generic or delayed responses suppress it. Prioritise concise, timely updates via agreed channels, with a single source of truth for late changes and named ownership for announcements. Discussion forums and drop‑ins can complement email and office hours. Analyse student comments to identify bottlenecks and adapt communication rhythms to assessment peaks and fieldwork periods.
Are support services visible and easy to use?
Students often do not use support services because they cannot find or navigate them. Improve discoverability with a simple front door online, clear on‑campus signage, and induction and module handbook signposting. Embed brief reminders at assessment milestones. Train staff to refer proactively and follow through until resolution, so students experience continuity rather than hand‑offs.
How should mental health resources be designed for these programmes?
Courses with placements and travel can separate students from usual support networks. Provide accessible counselling, stress‑management workshops, and virtual appointments that work while on placement. Integrate mental health literacy into modules to normalise help‑seeking and enable peers to spot concerns. Use text analysis of feedback to refine provision, targeting gaps in availability or perceived quality.
What technical support and submission guidance prevents avoidable penalties?
Students report preventable issues around submissions. Publish unambiguous guidance with screenshots, checklists, and deadlines in one place; align these with the assessment brief. Offer rapid technical support near submission windows and record common fixes. Involve students in usability checks of submission workflows and revise processes where failure patterns persist.
What should institutions do next?
Prioritise responsive staff access, streamlined digital delivery, and visible, joined‑up support. For tourism, transport, and travel, stabilising timetabling and communications, strengthening personal tutoring, and clarifying marking criteria will lift the experience students talk about most. Maintain a tight feedback loop: analyse comments, act on the high‑impact issues, and show the cohort what changed.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics tracks the volume and sentiment of student support and tourism, transport and travel topics over time, from provider to school and programme. It enables like‑for‑like comparisons across subject areas and student demographics, so teams can target gaps, benchmark against relevant peers, and evidence improvement. Exportable summaries and tables make it straightforward to brief programme teams and professional services and to monitor progress without additional analysis overhead.
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