What do civil engineering students say about student life and learning?
Across the wider student life lens of the National Student Survey (NSS), 74.7% of comments are positive and 23.3% negative, with engineering subjects among the most upbeat (sentiment index +53.6). Within civil engineering, open-text shows a tighter balance at 50.8% Positive and 44.2% Negative. Together these sector views explain why students here praise placements and peer learning while asking for sharper assessment standards, predictable timetabling, and inclusive communities that work for commuters, part‑time and disabled cohorts.
How do civil engineering students navigate the course experience?
Civil engineering students engage with complex design work, group projects and simulations that build both technical and interpersonal capabilities. They want assessment that sets transparent expectations and provides actionable feedback. Programme teams respond by publishing annotated exemplars and checklist‑style rubrics, calibrating across markers, and setting service levels for feedback turnaround with short feed‑forward notes. This helps students interpret assessment briefs, understand marking criteria, and connect learning with practice. Staff also integrate tools and simulations to show practical application, and use student voice and text analysis to prioritise improvements that matter most to the cohort.
What does the social fabric of civil engineering look like?
Cohort cohesion underpins success. Students value group work, peer mentoring and practice‑linked communities—patterns echoed by sector feedback where engineering students often report strong student life. To ensure this works for everyone, programmes design commuter‑friendly “micro‑communities” tied to timetabled touchpoints, offer hybrid or recorded options for events, and publish accessibility information in advance. Quiet‑room options and peer buddies help close inclusion gaps for disabled and mature students, while structured roles in teams sustain engagement.
How does the university environment support learning beyond the classroom?
Facilities and people shape outcomes. Well‑equipped laboratories, library resources, and approachable academic staff make applied learning possible, while student bodies and societies extend discussion beyond modules. Students judge the experience as much on operations as on content, so courses name a clear owner for timetabling and course organisation, maintain a single source of truth for changes, and issue brief weekly updates. This steadier rhythm reduces perceived workload pressures and makes scheduling feel fairer.
Which opportunities unlock applied learning and employability?
Field courses, site visits, placements and industry‑linked projects provide the authentic experience students seek. Students especially value structured group tasks with visible roles and transparent assessment of team contributions. Schemes like SUCCESS and similar initiatives connect learning to industry practice, strengthen CVs and build professional networks, reinforcing the sense that the programme prepares graduates for contemporary civil engineering practice.
What challenges do students face and how do programmes respond?
Students often juggle heavy workload, part‑time employment and new living arrangements. Clear timetables, coordinated assessment calendars and predictable staff contact (drop‑ins and Q&A slots) all help. Universities provide welcome activities, mentoring, counselling, study‑skills workshops and wellbeing services, and they sustain access to support across on‑campus and online modes as students continue to adapt to changing learning environments.
How does student life beyond academics shape outcomes?
Clubs, societies, student‑led projects and sport create belonging and bolster wellbeing. For engineering cohorts, practice‑linked communities and well‑signposted calendars sustain participation across the year. Programmes co‑design activities with students, use embedded community roles (student connectors and mentors) to keep initiatives going, and track equity across age, mode and disability so that part‑time and commuter students benefit alongside the rest of the cohort.
What are the civil engineering specifics to get right?
Students want a blend of rigorous classroom teaching, practical fieldwork and opportunities to form professional networks. They respond well to placements and peer collaboration, while frustration often centres on opaque marking and operational friction. Programme teams that prioritise assessment clarity, predictable organisation and visible staff availability see stronger engagement and a more coherent learning community.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
- Analyse student life and civil engineering feedback together, with drill‑downs by mode, age, disability, domicile, campus/site and cohort.
- Compare like‑for‑like across CAH subject groups to pinpoint friction in Feedback, Marking criteria, Workload, Organisation/communication and core teaching factors.
- Surface equity gaps for part‑time, commuter, mature and disabled students, and evidence what works (placements, peer learning, staff availability).
- Generate concise, anonymised briefings for programme teams and student partners, and export ready‑to‑share tables and figures for boards and action plans.
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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.
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