Jisc survey templates bring shared question sets to local student feedback

Updated Sep 14, 2026

Jisc announced survey templates in Online Surveys on 2 September 2026, adding a library for reusing questionnaires, including an institution's own question sets. For Student Experience teams using the service, the practical question is how to keep agreed wording visible when staff adapt surveys locally.

What has changed in Jisc survey templates

The library offers templates written by Jisc and account templates created by an institution's administrators. Staff can preview a questionnaire before selecting it. Using a template creates an editable draft survey. Jisc's guide to creating a survey from a template explains how to find and use either type.

Administrators can make account templates available to everyone in the account or restrict them to administrators. They can edit a template's name, description, category and tags, but the administration guidance makes a separate rule explicit:

Once a template has been saved, its questions and design can't be changed.

Changing that saved content requires a new template. The release history records the library in v3.44.1, released on 2 September 2026. This is an available service feature for account holders, including UK university teams. The distinction to retain is between a fixed library template and the editable survey created from it.

What this means for institutions

Our recommendation is to agree what each local questionnaire is intended to inform before adding it to the library. Name its owner, identify the intended respondents and ask students and staff to test the wording. Our briefing on co-designing teaching evaluations offers questions for that discussion. A reusable form should have a clear purpose and a team responsible for responding to its findings.

For each survey cycle, keep the questionnaire that students actually saw and a record of departures from the template. Include changes to prompts, response options and the collection period. If a department adapts a question for placements, for example, record that context before comparing its results with classroom-based modules. Treat these as local governance steps, not outcomes demonstrated by Jisc's release.

How student feedback analysis connects

For open-text questions, we suggest keeping the exact prompt beside the comments throughout analysis. A request to describe useful assessment feedback and a request to identify problems with it ask students to do different things. Before interpreting a change in comment themes, check whether the question, respondents or timing also changed.

Document the categories used to analyse comments, review ambiguous examples and keep the evidence behind each reported theme accessible to authorised reviewers. The NSS open-text analysis methodology explains relevant limits on coverage and comparison. Its survey-specific thresholds should not be transferred automatically to a local questionnaire. Reusing questions and applying consistent coding are useful disciplines, but neither establishes that respondents represent every student's experience.

FAQ

Q: What should a university using Jisc Online Surveys do now?

A: Review the local questionnaires worth maintaining as shared templates, then agree ownership and how staff should document adaptations. Use the student comment analysis governance checklist to plan method checks and reporting responsibilities before collecting comments.

Q: When did the feature become available, and which surveys does it affect?

A: Jisc records the release on 2 September 2026. It concerns surveys built within Online Surveys accounts. The announcement does not revise NSS, PTES, PRES or UKES questionnaires or introduce a UK-wide requirement to use templates.

Q: Will a shared template make student feedback comparable?

A: Do not assume so. Check the final wording, who was invited, who responded and when feedback was collected. Preserve explanations that do not fit common themes, and tell students how the findings informed a decision.

References

[Jisc Online Surveys]: "Introducing: Survey templates" Published: 2026-09-02

[Jisc Online Surveys]: "Creating a survey from a template" Published: 2023-10-31; updated: 2026-09-02 (page metadata)

[Jisc Online Surveys]: "Adding and managing account templates" Published: 2023-03-01; updated: 2026-09-02 (page metadata)

[Jisc Online Surveys]: "Change log" Published: 2026-09-02 (v3.44.1 entry)