Jisc’s Know Your Student findings describe fragmented institutional data

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Jisc published initial Know Your Student survey findings on 13 May 2026. Its blog says the survey launched on 12 March, asked 23 questions, and received responses from more than 85 institutions about student data, experience, wellbeing and progression. Jisc findings.

What respondents reported

According to the blog, 86% of respondents said the earlier engagement and wellbeing analytics specification had shaped their approach. Attendance, virtual learning environment activity and assessment submissions were commonly used indicators. Jisc describes multidisciplinary support and continued reliance on professional judgement.

The blog also says that only a small proportion reported a single combined view of student information; many still assembled it manually across systems. These are initial institutional self-reports. The article does not provide a full sampling frame, response rate, nation-by-nation breakdown or an evaluation of effects on student wellbeing.

Jisc explicitly recognises limits to analytics, particularly for individual mental health risk. Its findings should not be read as evidence that combining more data predicts a crisis, proves the cause of disengagement or guarantees better support.

Bringing evidence into decisions carefully

Jisc’s separate wellbeing analytics code discusses responsibility, transparency, privacy, validity, access, interventions and stewardship. It calls for appropriate specialist involvement and careful assessment of data sources and purposes. Jisc code of practice.

Our practical suggestion is to map the decision that needs support before proposing a combined dataset. Establish what staff need to know, who is responsible and whether the proposed information is appropriate for that purpose.

Aggregate survey comments can help a team investigate experiences of teaching or services. They should not be treated as a diagnosis of an individual’s circumstances or automatically linked to their attendance, counselling or case records. An apparently related theme does not establish a shared cause.

Check interpretation with the people responsible for support and with students where appropriate. Evaluate the response itself, including workload and unintended effects. The student comment analysis governance checklist can support planning of a defined survey review, alongside the institution’s specialist processes.

Review note, 7 September 2026: attributed initial findings to responding institutions, made methodological limits explicit, and removed unsupported claims of proven product outcomes and routine linkage of sensitive support records.