Student Voice Analytics for Business Studies — UK student feedback 2018–2025
Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Business Studies (CAH17-01-02) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~6,542 comments; 97% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 53.6% Positive, 42.1% Negative, 4.2% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.27:1).
What students are saying
Business Studies students talk first about assessment. Comments about Feedback (≈8.1% share) are mixed-to-negative (index ≈ −14.5), broadly in line with the sector. The single most negative assessment theme is Marking criteria (≈4.6%; index ≈ −43.1), although this is a little less negative than sector peers. Assessment methods (≈2.7%; index ≈ −14.9) also lean negative, again performing somewhat better than sector on tone. The thread is consistent: students value transparency about expectations, marking standards and how to improve.
Set against that, people-centred topics are clear strengths. Teaching Staff (≈7.3%; index ≈ +31.0) draw praise for clarity and support, albeit with slightly softer tone than sector. Student support is both prominent and positive (≈6.6%; index ≈ +26.5, well above sector), with Personal Tutor also positive. Delivery of teaching trends positive but modest (+8.1), while Remote learning remains slightly negative (−9.0) and broadly at sector tone.
Learning resources land well: the general Learning resources category (≈4.4%; index ≈ +26.1) and the Library (≈2.2%; index ≈ +31.6) both outperform sector sentiment. Students also speak positively about the Type and breadth of course content and Module choice/variety. Opportunities to work with other students, however, attract more attention than sector (+1.6 pp share) and lean negative (index ≈ −8.8), indicating recurring friction around group work dynamics, expectations or fairness.
Operational delivery is comparatively steady. Organisation, management of course is close to neutral (index ≈ −0.3) and notably above sector tone, with Scheduling/timetabling also less negative than sector. Notably, Year abroad features more here than in sector (+1.9 pp share) and carries a strongly positive tone (index ≈ +36.3). A small subset of comments still refer to COVID-19 (≈2.4%) with negative tone, and Costs/Value for money, while lower volume, remains very negative.
Top categories by share (Business Studies vs sector):
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feedback | Assessment and feedback | 8.1 | 7.3 | +0.8 | −14.5 | +0.5 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 7.3 | 6.7 | +0.6 | +31.0 | −4.5 |
| Student support | Academic support | 6.6 | 6.2 | +0.4 | +26.5 | +13.3 |
| Type and breadth of course content | Learning opportunities | 6.6 | 6.9 | −0.3 | +19.7 | −2.9 |
| Delivery of teaching | The teaching on my course | 4.8 | 5.4 | −0.7 | +8.1 | −0.7 |
| Marking criteria | Assessment and feedback | 4.6 | 3.5 | +1.1 | −43.1 | +2.6 |
| Learning resources | Learning resources | 4.4 | 3.8 | +0.6 | +26.1 | +4.6 |
| Remote learning | The teaching on my course | 4.1 | 3.5 | +0.6 | −9.0 | 0.0 |
| Module choice / variety | Learning opportunities | 3.8 | 4.2 | −0.4 | +14.8 | −2.5 |
| Opportunities to work with other students | Learning community | 3.6 | 2.0 | +1.6 | −8.8 | −9.8 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marking criteria | Assessment and feedback | 4.6 | 3.5 | +1.1 | −43.1 | +2.6 |
| COVID-19 | Others | 2.4 | 3.3 | −1.0 | −34.0 | −1.0 |
| Assessment methods | Assessment and feedback | 2.7 | 3.0 | −0.3 | −14.9 | +8.9 |
| Feedback | Assessment and feedback | 8.1 | 7.3 | +0.8 | −14.5 | +0.5 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling | Organisation and management | 3.5 | 2.9 | +0.7 | −11.2 | +5.3 |
| Remote learning | The teaching on my course | 4.1 | 3.5 | +0.6 | −9.0 | 0.0 |
| Opportunities to work with other students | Learning community | 3.6 | 2.0 | +1.6 | −8.8 | −9.8 |
Shares are the proportion of all Business Studies 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 | −0.3 | +61.7 | +1.9 |
| Student life | Learning community | 3.5 | 3.2 | +0.3 | +46.1 | +14.0 |
| Career guidance, support | Learning community | 2.8 | 2.4 | +0.4 | +41.8 | +11.8 |
| Year abroad | Organisation and management | 2.6 | 0.6 | +1.9 | +36.3 | +28.2 |
| Library | Learning resources | 2.2 | 1.8 | +0.4 | +31.6 | +4.8 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 7.3 | 6.7 | +0.6 | +31.0 | −4.5 |
| Student support | Academic support | 6.6 | 6.2 | +0.4 | +26.5 | +13.3 |
What this means in practice
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Make assessment clarity the first lever. Publish annotated exemplars, checklist-style rubrics and grade descriptors; standardise pre‑briefs that map learning outcomes to criteria; and set a credible feedback SLA. A shared “what good looks like” library reduces anxiety and lifts sentiment across Feedback, Marking criteria and Assessment methods.
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Protect the positives around people and support. Keep visible contact points (module leaders, tutors, advisers) and a simple route for queries. Short, consistent check‑ins and clear ownership sustain strong sentiment for Student support, Teaching Staff and Personal Tutor.
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Stabilise delivery basics. A single source of truth for course communications, a light-touch weekly change log, and a named owner for timetabling help keep Organisation & management close to neutral and Scheduling friction low.
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Tackle group work pain points. Use short group contracts, interim milestones, and calibrated peer assessment where appropriate. These steps typically improve tone for Opportunities to work with other students without adding heavy process.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Feedback (≈8.1%), Teaching Staff (≈7.3%), Student support (≈6.6%), Type and breadth of course content (≈6.6%), Delivery of teaching (≈4.8%).
- Cluster view: Delivery & ops (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote) ≈13.3% of all comments; People & growth (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, delivery, personal development, student life) ≈29.3%, with 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 calculated per sentence and summarised as an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative), then averaged at category level.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open-text survey comments into clear, prioritised actions. It tracks topics and sentiment over time for all disciplines, including Business Studies, so programme, school and institutional leaders can see what matters most and where tone is shifting.
It supports whole‑institution reviews as well as fine‑grained department and school analysis, producing concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments for programme teams and external partners. 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. Flexible segmentation (by site/provider, cohort, year) and export‑ready outputs (for web, decks, dashboards) make it straightforward to share priorities and track progress.
Insights into specific areas of business studies education
