Student Voice Analytics for Building — UK student feedback 2018–2025
Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Building (CAH13-01-02) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~872 comments; 97.7% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 52.8% Positive, 43.4% Negative, 3.8% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.22:1).
What students are saying
Building students talk most about assessment, closely followed by teaching quality and delivery mechanics. The single largest topic is Feedback (10.6% share), which is more prominent than in the sector and moderately negative in tone (index −12.2), though slightly less negative than the sector benchmark. Related assessment topics—Assessment methods (3.4%, −23.2), Marking criteria (2.3%, −54.3), and Dissertation (2.2%, −19.1)—reinforce a common theme: students want clearer criteria, consistent application, and feedback they can use.
By contrast, people-centred elements are strong. Teaching Staff attracts a high volume and a clearly positive tone (9.7%, +37.7), as do Student support (+34.4) and Availability of teaching staff (+47.3). Career guidance/support is another highlight (4.0%, +40.7), and students report tangible Personal development (+52.4) and a positive Student life (+42.5). Where mentioned, Personal Tutor sentiment is extremely high (+69.4), albeit in a small share of comments.
Operational delivery remains a mixed picture. Delivery of teaching leans slightly negative (−4.1). Scheduling/timetabling (−13.6) and Organisation & management (−24.1) are sources of friction, while Communication about course and teaching is still negative (−17.1) but notably less so than the sector. Remote learning is close to neutral and outperforming sector tone. Workload is discussed comparatively little (2.0%), and is less negative than the sector baseline.
Resources and options are mixed. Learning resources overall show a positive tone (+32.2), and the Library is positive (+18.7) though below sector on sentiment. Module choice/variety appears less often than sector and trends more negative than peers. Value for money stands out as a pain point (−58.5).
Placements/fieldwork/trips are less central to the Building narrative (2.2% vs sector 3.4%) and are roughly neutral in tone (+4.7).
Top categories by share (Building vs sector):
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
10.6 |
7.3 |
+3.3 |
−12.2 |
+2.9 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
9.7 |
6.7 |
+3.0 |
+37.7 |
+2.2 |
| Delivery of teaching |
The teaching on my course |
6.5 |
5.4 |
+1.0 |
−4.1 |
−12.9 |
| Type & breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
6.1 |
6.9 |
−0.8 |
+10.9 |
−11.7 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
5.3 |
3.5 |
+1.8 |
−0.7 |
+8.3 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
5.0 |
6.2 |
−1.2 |
+34.4 |
+21.2 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
4.8 |
3.3 |
+1.5 |
−27.2 |
+5.8 |
| Career guidance, support |
Learning community |
4.0 |
2.4 |
+1.6 |
+40.7 |
+10.6 |
| Scheduling/timetabling |
Organisation and management |
3.5 |
2.9 |
+0.7 |
−13.6 |
+2.9 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment and feedback |
3.4 |
3.0 |
+0.4 |
−23.2 |
+0.5 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Costs / Value for money |
Others |
2.3 |
1.6 |
+0.7 |
−58.5 |
−5.7 |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment and feedback |
2.3 |
3.5 |
−1.2 |
−54.3 |
−8.6 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
4.8 |
3.3 |
+1.5 |
−27.2 |
+5.8 |
| Organisation, management of course |
Organisation and management |
3.3 |
3.3 |
−0.1 |
−24.1 |
−10.2 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment and feedback |
3.4 |
3.0 |
+0.4 |
−23.2 |
+0.5 |
| Dissertation |
Assessment and feedback |
2.2 |
1.1 |
+1.1 |
−19.1 |
−8.5 |
| Scheduling/timetabling |
Organisation and management |
3.5 |
2.9 |
+0.7 |
−13.6 |
+2.9 |
Shares are the proportion of all Building comments whose primary topic is the category. Sentiment index ranges from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative).
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Personal development |
Learning community |
2.2 |
2.5 |
−0.2 |
+52.4 |
−7.4 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
2.1 |
3.2 |
−1.1 |
+42.5 |
+10.4 |
| Career guidance, support |
Learning community |
4.0 |
2.4 |
+1.6 |
+40.7 |
+10.6 |
| Teaching Staff |
Teaching |
9.7 |
6.7 |
+3.0 |
+37.7 |
+2.2 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
5.0 |
6.2 |
−1.2 |
+34.4 |
+21.2 |
| Learning resources |
Learning resources |
2.6 |
3.8 |
−1.2 |
+32.2 |
+10.7 |
| Library |
Learning resources |
3.1 |
1.8 |
+1.3 |
+18.7 |
−8.0 |
What this means in practice
-
Make assessment clarity the priority. Publish annotated exemplars and checklist-style rubrics; state explicit, student-facing marking criteria; and run quick calibration sessions so staff apply criteria consistently. Set and meet a realistic feedback SLA, and signpost how students should act on feedback.
-
Smooth the operational rhythm. Name an owner for timetabling and course organisation; provide a single source of truth for course communications; and send a brief “what changed and why” update when plans shift. This reduces friction in Delivery of teaching and Organisation & management while keeping Remote learning predictable.
-
Strengthen perceived value. Be transparent about what is included in fees, highlight the breadth of support (careers, library, learning resources), and nudge uptake with concise guides and point-of-need reminders. Where module choice is constrained, explain the rationale and show how learning outcomes are met.
-
Double down on people strengths. Teaching Staff and Student support are assets—protect responsiveness (Availability of teaching staff) and keep career guidance visible throughout the year, not just at set points.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Feedback (≈10.6%), Teaching Staff (≈9.7%), Delivery of teaching (≈6.5%), Type & breadth of course content (≈6.1%), Remote learning (≈5.3%), Student support (≈5.0%), COVID‑19 (≈4.8%), Career guidance/support (≈4.0%).
- Clusters: the delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote) accounts for ≈15.5% of all comments; the people & growth cluster (personal tutor/support, teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) ≈27.7%, with a strongly positive tone.
- 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), averaged at category level.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open-text survey comments into clear priorities you can act on. It tracks topics and sentiment over time, across 2018–2025, so you can see what is driving Building students’ experience and how it moves year to year.
It supports whole‑institution views as well as fine‑grained programme, department and school analysis. You get concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments for partners and programme teams, so you can brief colleagues without sifting thousands of responses. 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 evidence improvement against the right peer group. You can also segment by site/provider, cohort and year to target interventions where they’ll shift sentiment most. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across the institution.