Student Voice Analytics for Accounting — UK student feedback 2018–2025
Scope. UK NSS open‑text comments for Accounting (CAH17-01-08) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~3,608 comments; 96.9% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 54.5% Positive, 40.4% Negative, 5.2% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.35:1).
What students are saying
Accounting students focus first on how assessment works in practice. Feedback is the single largest topic (≈10.8% share) and is slightly negative in tone (index −14.6), broadly in line with the sector. Students also scrutinise Assessment methods (3.8%, −18.1) and Marking criteria (2.7%, −40.3). The pattern is clear: when criteria are opaque, exemplars are scarce, or turnaround is unpredictable, sentiment falls.
Set against this, the human and pedagogic core is a major strength. Teaching Staff (9.7%, +43.9) is strongly positive and well above sector tone; Delivery of teaching (7.3%, +15.4) also trends positive. Students highlight supportive staff and structured, clear delivery. Student support (5.0%, +23.5), Learning resources (4.7%, +30.0) and Library (2.2%, +32.4) are consistently positive, and Career guidance (3.6%, +39.7) is a notable asset compared with the sector.
Operational delivery is mixed. Remote learning (4.4%, −7.2) remains slightly negative but a little better than sector. Scheduling/timetabling (3.1%, −22.0) is more negative than sector, while Organisation & management of course (2.9%, +2.4) bucks the sector trend by landing slightly positive overall. “Opportunities to work with other students” (2.7%, −8.9) is a softer point, suggesting group work expectations and support could be clearer.
Some topics are less present than in the sector. Placements/fieldwork/trips (1.6% vs sector 3.4%) and Personal Tutor (0.9% vs 3.2%) appear less frequently here; when they do appear, tone is generally positive and above sector.
Top categories by share (Accounting vs sector)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
10.8 |
7.3 |
3.5 |
−14.6 |
0.4 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
9.7 |
6.7 |
3.0 |
+43.9 |
8.3 |
| Delivery of teaching |
The teaching on my course |
7.3 |
5.4 |
1.9 |
+15.4 |
6.7 |
| Type and breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
5.2 |
6.9 |
−1.8 |
+28.6 |
6.0 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
5.0 |
6.2 |
−1.2 |
+23.5 |
10.3 |
| Learning resources |
Learning resources |
4.7 |
3.8 |
0.9 |
+30.0 |
8.5 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
4.4 |
3.5 |
0.9 |
−7.2 |
1.8 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment and feedback |
3.8 |
3.0 |
0.8 |
−18.1 |
5.6 |
| Career guidance, support |
Learning community |
3.6 |
2.4 |
1.2 |
+39.7 |
9.6 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
3.5 |
3.3 |
0.2 |
−32.8 |
0.1 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment and feedback |
2.7 |
3.5 |
−0.9 |
−40.3 |
5.4 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
3.5 |
3.3 |
0.2 |
−32.8 |
0.1 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling |
Organisation and management |
3.1 |
2.9 |
0.2 |
−22.0 |
−5.4 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment and feedback |
3.8 |
3.0 |
0.8 |
−18.1 |
5.6 |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
10.8 |
7.3 |
3.5 |
−14.6 |
0.4 |
| Opportunities to work with other students |
Learning community |
2.7 |
2.0 |
0.8 |
−8.9 |
−10.0 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
4.4 |
3.5 |
0.9 |
−7.2 |
1.8 |
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
9.7 |
6.7 |
3.0 |
+43.9 |
8.3 |
| Career guidance, support |
Learning community |
3.6 |
2.4 |
1.2 |
+39.7 |
9.6 |
| Availability of teaching staff |
Academic support |
2.4 |
2.1 |
0.3 |
+37.4 |
−1.9 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
3.1 |
3.2 |
0.0 |
+32.7 |
0.6 |
| Library |
Learning resources |
2.2 |
1.8 |
0.4 |
+32.4 |
5.6 |
| Learning resources |
Learning resources |
4.7 |
3.8 |
0.9 |
+30.0 |
8.5 |
| Type and breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
5.2 |
6.9 |
−1.8 |
+28.6 |
6.0 |
What this means in practice
Start with assessment clarity. Publish annotated exemplars aligned to the marking criteria, use checklist‑style rubrics that show “what good looks like”, and set a realistic service level for feedback turnaround. Small, predictable changes to process lift sentiment across Feedback, Assessment methods and Marking criteria.
Strengthen the operational rhythm. A single source of truth for timetable changes, a weekly “what changed and why” update, and visible ownership of scheduling decisions reduce friction in Scheduling and Remote learning while preserving the current (unusually positive) tilt in Organisation & management.
Double down on people‑centred strengths. Keep staff presence high around key assessment points and in Q&A moments; make it easy to reach the right person quickly. Maintain the good work in Career guidance by signposting routes into internships, accredited pathways and professional support.
Finally, support peer collaboration. Where “opportunities to work with other students” feel unclear, scaffold group work with defined roles, milestones and conflict‑resolution routes, especially in modules with assessed team outputs.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Feedback (≈10.8%), Teaching Staff (≈9.7%), Delivery of teaching (≈7.3%), Type & breadth of course content (≈5.2%), Student support (≈5.0%), Learning resources (≈4.7%).
- Cluster view:
- Assessment & feedback (Feedback, Assessment methods, Marking criteria, Dissertation): ≈17.9% of all comments.
- Delivery & ops (Placements/fieldwork, Scheduling, Organisation & management, Course communications, Remote learning): ≈13.5%.
- People & growth (Personal Tutor, Student support, Teaching Staff, Availability of teaching staff, Delivery of teaching, Personal development, Student life): ≈30.1%.
- Topics less present than sector: Placements/fieldwork (1.6% vs 3.4%), Personal Tutor (0.9% vs 3.2%).
- How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all comments. Sentiment is summarised as an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative), compared with sector where available.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open‑text survey comments into clear, prioritised actions. It tracks topics and sentiment year by year across the institution and at fine‑grained levels (school, department, programme), producing concise, anonymised summaries and representative comments for programme teams and stakeholders.
Crucially, it enables like‑for‑like sector comparisons across CAH codes and by demographics (e.g., year of study, domicile, mode of study, campus/site, commuter status), so you can prove change against the right peer group. You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year to target interventions where they will move sentiment most. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across the university.