First-semester belonging changes around key moments, not in a straight line

From the paper: Stories of transition: sense of belonging in the first semester at university. Why universities should track belonging across key moments, not treat transition as one settled phase.

Why neutral students stay silent in teaching evaluations

From the paper: Students’ ‘fast and frugal’ heuristics in SET completion: a preliminary typology. What the study shows about in-class time, course experience, and the silent middle in teaching evaluations.

Retention work needs belonging evidence, not just a single score

From the paper: The implications of sense of belonging for student retention in higher education: a systematic literature review and research agenda. Why universities should pair belonging measures with richer student voice evidence when tackling continuation risk.

Induction can build mature students' belonging, but only if universities design beyond the default student

From the paper: Mature undergraduates' experiences of a UK university induction programme: accruing social capital, evolving habitus and developing a sense of belonging. How UK universities can use transition feedback to improve belonging for mature students.

Post-pandemic flexibility can widen access while weakening belonging

From the paper: Navigating student engagement and belonging post-pandemic: A case study from a post-1992 university. Why UK universities need hybrid models that protect connection as well as convenience.

Could ranking teachers work better than rating them in student evaluations?

From the paper: From ratings to rankings: A complementary approach for student evaluations of teaching in higher education. Why direct rankings may reduce rating-scale noise in teaching evaluations, but still need qualitative context.

Belonging surveys need better validation before universities benchmark them

From the paper: How to measure belonging in higher education: a systematic review. Why UK universities should check the validity of belonging measures before comparing cohorts or tracking change.

Student evaluations help teaching improve when staff can discuss them

From the paper: Teachers' continuing professional development: using student evaluations to start a dialogue. What this study shows about turning SET feedback into staff learning and teaching improvement.

Students judge AI-using teachers by care, not just technical competence

From the paper: 'If GAI has finished her job, why would I need her?': a mixed-methods study on students' perceptions of GAI-using teachers. What this study shows about teacher care, critical AI use, and student trust.

Students feel hopeful about AI, but worry and guilt shape how safe it feels to use

From the paper: Feeling AI: Circulating emotions, institutional climates, and moral boundaries in student use of AI. What a national survey and focus groups reveal about trust, anxiety, and AI policy in higher education.

Student evaluations improve when staff and students redesign them together

From the paper: Redesigning student evaluations of teaching: integrating faculty and student perspectives. What a six-year redesign project reveals about building better teaching evaluations.

Students engage less with employability support when opportunities feel unclear, irrelevant, or badly timed

From the paper: Improving student engagement in employability development: recognising and reducing affective and behavioural barriers. Why students disengage from employability opportunities when confidence, relevance, and timetabling do not line up.

Belonging is weaker when students feel they must hide part of themselves

From the paper: Fitting in, feeling true: student experiences of sense of belonging and authenticity. Why universities should ask not only whether students belong, but whether they can do so without self-editing.

What new students need to feel they belong, and stay well

From the paper: Factors affecting new students' sense of belonging and wellbeing at university. Why universities should listen for academic, social, environmental, and personal barriers in early student feedback.

Student satisfaction tends to be higher in smaller universities

From the paper: Student satisfaction as a function of student and staff sizes in higher education. What the study suggests about institutional scale, student support, and why scores alone cannot explain satisfaction gaps.

Students see accreditation work better when quality assurance is visible

From the paper: Accreditation processes and their impact on improvements in the organisation and management of Spanish university degrees: student assessment. Why students perceive accreditation more positively when they understand the process and can participate in it.

Student survey data works better when universities benchmark and triangulate it

From the paper: Research institutions' perspectives on assessment and improvement efforts that contribute to college quality. What the study suggests about benchmarking, triangulation, and turning survey evidence into institutional action.

Students judge feedback comments as fairer when they are usable

From the paper: Fairly useful feedback: characteristics of feedback comments perceived as fair by students. Why students read constructive, actionable feedback as fairer than supportive wording alone.

Student belonging declines over the first year, and first-generation gaps open later

From the paper: Dynamic belonging – how student belonging changes over time for first-generation students. What a mixed-method study suggests universities should measure beyond welcome week.

Students and educators prioritise different things in digital assessment quality

From the paper: Walking the tightrope of quality assessment: balancing perspectives and priorities of stakeholder groups. Why student experience, feedback quality, purpose, and technology all need a place in digital assessment design.

A validated employability scale can sharpen student surveys and careers support

From the paper: Measuring students’ self-perceived employability capital attainment: the development and validation of a scale. Why earlier, better employability measurement matters for survey design and careers support.

AI detectors catch many LLM-assisted essays, but privacy and false positives remain major risks

From the paper: From AI to authorship: Exploring the use of LLM detection tools for calling on "originality" of students in academic environments. What student survey data and detector tests suggest about privacy, fairness, and trust.

Student evaluation scores are not automatically comparable across departments, programmes, or time

From the paper: On the comparability of SET scores: measurement invariance across programs, departments, and time. Why universities should test whether student evaluation scores mean the same thing before benchmarking across departments or years.

Brief self-reflection improves feedback satisfaction for lower-performing students

From the paper: Perceptions of feedback: the use of self-reflection to improve student satisfaction. Why a short reflection task before releasing comments may matter most for lower- and medium-performing students.

Students use Generative AI for feedback, but trust teachers more

From the paper: Comparing Generative AI and teacher feedback: student perceptions of usefulness and trustworthiness. Why students use both feedback sources, but trust teacher feedback more when the stakes are higher.

Teaching evaluation surveys work better when students and staff help design them

From the paper: Redesigning student evaluations of teaching: integrating faculty and student perspectives. How a six-stage redesign process identified the teaching qualities students and staff most want evaluation surveys to measure.

Belonging works better as connection across the student life course

From the paper: Beyond belonging: connecting across the STEMM + B student life course. Why UK universities should treat belonging as changing patterns of connection, not a single stable score.

Muslim students’ belonging is shaped by faith provision, religious literacy and peer care

From the paper: Navigating sacred and secular: the dynamic evolution of Muslim students’ sense of belonging in UK higher education. How faith provision, staff religious literacy, peer support, and policy climate shape belonging over time.

Why assessment fairness does not feel the same to every student

From the paper: It’s (un)fair! undergraduate student self-construals, self-esteem, and perceptions of summative assessment fairness. Why universities should separate assessment process from assessment outcome when they interpret student feedback on fairness.

What 3,070 misconduct reflections reveal about academic integrity policy

From the paper: Examining student reflections on academic misconduct: insights for academic integrity in higher education. What 3,070 student reflections suggest about integrity literacy, assessment design, and support.

What ethnic-minority students mean by belonging, and what surveys often miss

From the paper: Sense of belonging defined: how ethnic-minority students conceptualise belonging in the university. Why universities need broader belonging measures and richer student voice data.

Faster feedback policies do not guarantee better NSS results

From the paper: Universities' policies on feedback speed do not meaningfully predict students' satisfaction with assessment and feedback. Why UK universities should look beyond turnaround targets when improving NSS assessment and feedback scores.

When are student evaluations of teaching actually reliable?

From the paper: The reliability of student evaluations of teaching. Why student evaluation scores are only moderately stable even in the best case, and what UK universities should do before using them to judge teaching quality.

Care-experienced students need reliable relationships, not only bursaries

From the paper: The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience. Why relational support matters alongside formal provision for retention and belonging.

Belonging can rise in first year, but survey comparisons across time can mislead

From the paper: First-year students’ sense of belonging in higher education: examining measurement invariance and longitudinal development across migration background and generation status in HE. What this research implies for interpreting belonging survey trends and equity gaps.

From student to customer: what changes in postgraduate feedback

From the paper: Student or customer? Mainland Chinese students’ self-identification and reflexivity in Hong Kong’s self-financed taught postgraduate programmes. How value for money and trust shape where students take their feedback.

Student Voice as Partnership, Not Extraction

From the paper: Repositioning Student Voice and Agency: A Call for the Epistemic Expansion of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Inquiry. Why universities should treat student feedback as shared knowledge-making, not a one-way data collection exercise.

Welcome week attendance boosts peer belonging, but not staff belonging

From the paper: Sense of belonging in higher education: The effect of early introductory activities. What a longitudinal study suggests UK universities should measure after welcome week.

What gets students to fill in teaching evaluations? Evidence on incentives and messaging

From the paper: Motivating student participation in teaching evaluations: evidence from a hypothetical scenario experiment in China. What this study suggests UK universities should prioritise when trying to improve response rates.

When geopolitics shapes what Chinese international students feel able to say

From the paper: Politicized identity and language practices: Understanding Chinese international students’ language ideologies amid U.S.-China geopolitical tensions. What interview evidence suggests about self-censorship, tokenisation, and inclusive practice.

Belonging is not fixed: how ethnic-minority students build it over time

From the paper: Invisible threads: how ethnic-minority students weave belonging in higher education. What a longitudinal study shows about belonging trajectories, student agency, and practical support.

Active learning and clear goals are linked to stronger student resilience

From the paper: Fostering resilience among university students: the role of teaching and learning environments. What a mixed-methods study suggests universities can do to strengthen resilience through learning design and clearer expectations.

Tracking student belonging over time: why first-generation trajectories matter

From the paper: Dynamic belonging – how student belonging changes over time for first-generation students. What UK universities should take from a more time-sensitive approach to belonging, engagement, and student voice.

Campus climate predicts interfaith learning, safe spaces and challenge matter in UK surveys

From the paper: How can universities support students’ interfaith learning? Findings from a longitudinal survey of students in the UK. What the research suggests about pluralism, safe spaces, and insensitive or coercive experiences.

In hybrid classes, flexibility drives online participation, and social presence drives campus attendance

From the paper: Online and on-site participation in synchronous hybrid settings: reasons from the perspective of higher education students. What student questionnaire and interview data reveals about why students choose online or on-campus attendance.

Low-SES Students Face Cultural Mismatch on Placements

From the paper: “They want people who are not me”: low socioeconomic status students' WIL experiences. What a qualitative case study suggests about cultural mismatch, confidence, and better placement support.

What deaf and hard of hearing students say makes higher education accessible

From the paper: Accessibility and support in higher education: a case study of deaf and hard of hearing students’ perceptions. What this research suggests UK universities should prioritise in support, communication, and inclusive teaching.

Intersectional barriers disabled students describe — and how universities can respond

From the paper: An intersectional perspective on disabled students’ experiences in German higher education. What interviews reveal about stigma, disclosure, and support — with lessons for UK universities.

What Students Really Mean by Teaching Excellence

From the paper: The meaning of excellence in learning and teaching to students. A mixed methods study reveals that students define excellent teaching through support, student-centricity, and opportunities for growth.

Who Actually Fills In Student Evaluations? New Evidence on Non-Response Bias

From the paper: Can student evaluations be made more representative? Testing alternative strategies. What a randomised experiment reveals about which students complete teaching evaluations, and how to close the gap.

Can Machine Learning Help Instructors Make Sense of Student Evaluation Comments?

From the paper: Understanding university instructor responses to machine-learning analysis of mid-semester teaching evaluations. How topic modelling can turn open-text student feedback into actionable insights for instructors of large courses.

Can Behaviour-Focused Evaluation Questions Reduce Gender Bias in Student Feedback?

From the paper: Rethinking bias in student evaluations: a multivariate analysis of observable instructional behaviors. How reframing evaluation questions around concrete teaching behaviours may eliminate gender bias in student feedback.

Conditional Belonging: What Minority Ethnic STEM Students Tell UK Universities

From the paper: ‘I deserve to be here’: minority ethnic students and their conditional belonging in UK higher education. How belonging becomes conditional — and what universities can do about it.

Emotional Engagement in Online Forums: Three Patterns That Shape Participation

From the paper: Conceptualising Emotional Engagement in an Online Asynchronous Forum. What students' emotional engagement behaviours mean for designing online discussion spaces and interpreting student voice.

PhD competency confidence varies by research style: evidence from 1,105 doctoral students

From the paper: Do PhD students’ research styles predict their perceived competencies? We review a validated competency inventory and what it means for doctoral programme support and PGR survey design.

Detecting hate speech online using machine learning models

A new study compares the challenge posed in the detection of offensive and hate speech online in the context of both majority and minority languages.

Using machine learning for automated language analysis

A recently published paper has outlined how AI automated text analysis may be used in a range of applications.

Definitions of fairness in machine learning explained through examples

A recent paper clarifies what fairness means in machine learning, showing why consistent definitions help institutions address bias more effectively.

Reducing Bias in Natural Language Processing Systems

Machine learning-based language systems should be fair and unbiased. A recently published paper has proposed a novel test procedure.

Module Evaluation, Likability and The Case For Free-Text Comments

From the paper: The student evaluation of teaching and likability: what the evaluations actually measure

Halo Effects in the Student Voice: Unwanted Correlations

From the paper: Quantifying halo effects in students’ evaluation of teaching. We look at how correlated questions become less useful in student voice surveys

Gender Stereotypes in the Text of Teaching Excellence Submissions

From the paper: Gender stereotyping in student perceptions of teaching excellence: applying the shifting standards theory

Lexicon and Software Choice in Education Text Analysis

From the paper: Making sense of student feedback using text analysis – adapting and expanding a common lexicon