How can feedback be improved in business and management studies?

Published Jun 21, 2024 · Updated Oct 12, 2025

feedbackbusiness and management

Prioritise timely, actionable comments aligned to explicit criteria, supported by calibrated marking and staged, dialogic approaches. Across the National Student Survey (NSS), feedback skews negative (57.3% negative; sentiment −10.2). In business and management (non-specific), the broad grouping for generalist business programmes, it accounts for about 10.6% of comments and remains mildly negative (−11.5), with marking criteria the lowest rated element (−46.5). Publishing turnaround standards, using concise rubrics with annotated exemplars, and embedding feed‑forward gives students clarity on what to do next and improves progression.

How should curriculum design align with industry relevance?

A substantive challenge in business and management curricula is balancing theoretical robustness with application in contemporary practice. A strong theoretical foundation underpins decision‑making, but programmes need structured employer input to keep learning outcomes current. Staff should use scheduled advisory panels and labour‑market scans to refine modules, and pair this with transparent feedback standards by assessment type and explicit feed‑forward. Short calibration sprints on sample scripts help teams align judgements and ensure that curriculum content and assessment better reflect current industry expectations.

How do teaching methods raise student engagement?

Active methods with iterative feedback drive engagement. Build brief feedback checkpoints into seminars, use low‑stakes polls and short reflective tasks, and timetable short dialogic feedback sessions so students can test understanding and plan improvements. Hybrid delivery should carry the same expectations for turnaround and quality across online and face‑to‑face settings, with consistent signposting to criteria and exemplars. Adopting staged feedback and checklists, common in provision that serves working adults, helps full‑time cohorts use comments more effectively.

Which assessment types and feedback mechanisms work best?

Varied assessment demonstrates knowledge and application, but students need clarity on what “good” looks like. Provide annotated exemplars, checklist‑style rubrics and brief “how to improve” notes aligned to marking criteria. Combine project‑based work with interim milestones to create regular feed‑forward, not just post‑hoc commentary. Teams should calibrate markers on shared samples and run spot checks on specificity, actionability and alignment to criteria, so feedback quality remains consistent across modules and markers.

How should workplace skills and employability be embedded?

Communication, problem‑solving and teamwork need integrating into assessment briefs and marking criteria rather than sitting in optional modules. Map these skills to programme outcomes and show students how criteria evidence them. Use employer‑informed case work and live projects, and publish short “you said → we did” updates that show how cohort feedback on employability has changed formats, timelines or criteria. This approach links academic performance to workplace readiness and makes the feedback loop visible.

How should technology integration support feedback in business education?

Digital platforms allow real‑time comments, audio notes and rubric‑based marking at scale. Use them to track on‑time rates, provide structured feed‑forward and give students a single source of truth for criteria and exemplars. Avoid over‑reliance on automation by retaining brief dialogic moments and opportunities for questions in workshops and labs. Accessibility and reliability checks ensure all students can act on feedback, whether they study on campus or remotely.

What challenges do business and management students report about feedback?

Students frequently report feedback that arrives too late to use, lacks alignment to criteria, or reads as generic. Programme teams can address this by publishing a feedback SLA within each module guide, aligning comments to criteria with short “next steps,” and scheduling brief follow‑up opportunities. Target large, core modules for calibration and add light‑touch audits of feedback samples each term to reduce variation.

What future trends shape business and management education?

Providers that reset the basics of feedback—timeliness, usefulness and criteria‑referencing—see improved NSS scores and stronger engagement. Expect more use of exemplars, structured peer review and analytics that show whether students open and act on feedback. Teams that learn from mature and part‑time provision (staged feedback, dialogic sessions, checklists) and close the loop visibly are better placed to sustain improvement.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

Student Voice Analytics turns NSS open‑text into trackable metrics for feedback and assessment in business and management. It surfaces topic share and sentiment over time, highlights where tone is weakest, and enables drill‑downs from school to programme and module. You can compare like‑for‑like across CAH areas and cohorts, export concise summaries for boards and module teams, and evidence progress with “you said → we did” updates grounded in data.

Request a walkthrough

Book a Student Voice Analytics demo

See all-comment coverage, sector benchmarks, and governance packs designed for OfS quality and NSS requirements.

• All-comment coverage with HE-tuned taxonomy and sentiment.
• Versioned outputs with TEF-ready governance packs.
• Benchmarks and BI-ready exports for boards and Senate.

Book a demo Prefer email? [email protected]

More posts on feedback:

• What feedback do biology students in UK higher education need?
• Can better feedback and organisation improve medical student learning?
• Are sport and exercise sciences students getting feedback they can use?
• What should feedback achieve in psychology programmes?

More posts on business and management student views:

• What do NSS comments tell us about business teaching staff?
• What did COVID-19 mean for business and management students?
• What do business and management students say about assessment?
• How can student voice improve Business and Management programmes?