Jisc's pre-arrival questionnaire pilot moves early student insight into action
Updated Jul 05, 2026
student voicefeedbackUniversities are starting to use student voice before students even arrive, and Jisc's latest update shows what happens when that evidence starts shaping practice. On 3 July 2026, Jisc published From insight to action: what we’re learning from the pre-arrival questionnaire pilot, arguing that the national pre-arrival questionnaire pilot is moving beyond early findings into targeted onboarding, support, and benchmarking. For teams responsible for student voice in higher education, that matters because pre-arrival insight is no longer just an interesting transition signal. It is becoming a live source of evidence for induction, support, and earlier intervention.
What has changed in Jisc's pre-arrival questionnaire pilot
This is not a new statutory survey requirement or a new NSS methodology change. The development is that, with the first wave complete, Jisc says participating institutions are now using pre-arrival evidence operationally rather than only descriptively. Its earlier April 2026 feature says the pilot is being delivered by Advance HE, the University of East London, and Jisc, funded through the OfS Equality in Higher Education Innovation Fund, and designed for undergraduate and postgraduate taught entrants at universities and colleges in England. The July update shows the next step: early student insight is starting to affect how institutions design transition in practice.
Jisc says participating institutions are beginning to tailor onboarding and induction around actual cohort needs, send early targeted communications to students who may require support, identify needs that are not visible in formal declaration data, and align findings with access and participation plans and student services. That is a more concrete use of pre-arrival data than the sector had in April. It suggests the pilot is shifting from an evidence source about incoming students to a repeatable route for acting on that evidence.
"This represents a shift from designing transition around assumptions, to designing it around evidence gathered in real time."
The July blog also sharpens the content of that evidence. Jisc says belonging often starts in the academic experience, not only in clubs or welcome activity, and that the pilot is revealing uneven digital capability, limited experience with academic digital tools, early financial pressure, and undeclared disability or mental health concerns before teaching starts. The timing matters. Jisc says the project will continue until June 2027, with the next wave open now and data collection running from September to November 2026, followed by rapid access to results and wider benchmarking. That moves the pre-arrival questionnaire closer to live survey infrastructure than a one-off pilot exercise.
What this means for institutions
The first implication is that pre-arrival surveys now need an operating model, not just a questionnaire. Universities should decide in advance how pre-arrival findings will route into induction design, academic support, student services, and access work, and who owns each follow-up step. As our earlier coverage of the initial PAQ findings showed, the survey is useful because it surfaces expectation gaps before the first lecture. Jisc's July update matters because it shows institutions starting to use that evidence rather than simply noting it.
The second implication is that transition support should sit closer to teaching than many institutions still assume. If belonging, digital capability, and support confidence are being shaped by course-level experience, then universities should treat them as curriculum and communication issues as well as welcome-week issues. That is where the sequence matters. A pre-arrival survey becomes more useful when it is followed by an early in-term route such as Westminster's Mid-Module Check-ins, so teams can test whether early problems were actually reduced once teaching began.
The third implication is governance and segmentation. Jisc's update says differences between undergraduates and postgraduates, mature and younger entrants, and UK and international students are becoming clearer as analysis deepens. Institutions should therefore ask whether their pre-arrival process can support subgroup analysis, privacy, consent, and named action without creating another isolated dataset. The benefit is not more survey activity. It is a clearer evidence trail from early risk, to targeted support, to later review.
How student feedback analysis connects
This matters for feedback analysis because pre-arrival evidence is most useful when institutions can compare it with what students say after arrival. A cohort that reports low confidence with digital tools, financial pressure, or uncertainty about belonging before term begins may later raise comments about unclear assessment guidance, weak signposting, poor communication, or limited support access. Closed-question results can show where pressure is building. Open-text feedback is what helps teams see what is actually driving it.
That is where a governed analysis workflow becomes useful. If universities want to compare pre-arrival comments, induction feedback, and later survey responses consistently, Student Voice Analytics provides one reproducible route. Even where institutions use their own tools, the immediate need is the same: a clear method for grouping feedback, checking outputs, and documenting action. Our student comment analysis governance checklist is a practical starting point for that work.
FAQ
Q: What should institutions do now if they want to act on this Jisc update?
A: Start by deciding what the pre-arrival survey is expected to change. Map which questions should trigger induction changes, which findings go to student services or access teams, and which issues need a follow-up check once teaching starts. Then document review, ownership, and escalation clearly enough that the evidence does not stall between collection and action.
Q: What is the timeline and scope of the change?
A: Jisc published the latest update on 3 July 2026. Its earlier feature says the national pilot is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate taught entrants at universities and colleges in England, and is funded through the OfS Equality in Higher Education Innovation Fund. Jisc says the project will continue until June 2027, with the next wave collecting data from September to November 2026 and results following shortly afterwards.
Q: What is the broader implication for student voice?
A: The broader implication is that student voice is moving earlier in the student lifecycle. Universities do not need to wait for module evaluations, PTES, or NSS to understand where support, confidence, or belonging may be breaking down. If they collect early evidence well and connect it to later follow-up, they can act while students can still feel the benefit.
References
[Jisc]: "From insight to action: what we’re learning from the pre-arrival questionnaire pilot" Published: 2026-07-03
[Jisc]: "Understanding students before they arrive: early insights from the pre-arrival questionnaire pilot" Published: 2026-04-17
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