Student Voice Analytics for Combined General or Negotiated Studies — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Combined General or Negotiated Studies (CAH23-01-01) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~9,902 comments; 95.7% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 53.9% Positive, 42.7% Negative, 3.4% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.26:1).

What students are saying

Students in Combined General or Negotiated Studies emphasise the shape and resourcing of their programmes. The single largest topic is the type and breadth of course content (≈9.5% share), which is viewed positively (index ~+25.9) and appears more frequently here than across the sector. Closely behind are comments on learning resources (≈8.5%) and personal tutoring (≈7.5%). Resources are praised for availability and usefulness (index ~+26.9, above sector), while personal tutoring is a clear presence in the narrative, albeit slightly below sector on tone.

Assessment and feedback are central and mixed. Feedback accounts for around 7.5% of all comments and sits near neutral on tone (index ~+0.6), but notably better than sector. The sharper pain points are clarity-oriented: marking criteria (index ~−41.9) and assessment methods (index ~−27.1) attract sustained criticism when expectations or formats are unclear.

Delivery mechanics matter, though less than in some disciplines. Remote learning draws a comparatively high share (≈6.8%) with a slightly negative but better-than-sector tone. Scheduling and general course organisation are mentioned at moderate levels (≈3–4%) and trend positive versus sector, suggesting students notice and value predictability and clear ownership. By contrast, opportunities to work with other students are discussed less positively (index ~−12.4), pointing to the value of more structured groupwork and clearer accountability.

Some topics are under-represented relative to sector norms. Placements/fieldwork are scarcely mentioned (≈0.1% vs 3.4% sector), which fits the delivery model of many programmes in this CAH. Teaching Staff sentiment is strong (index ~+36.7) even though the topic appears less often than sector, while Student life and Personal development are both consistently positive.

Top categories by share (discipline vs sector):

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	9.5	6.9	2.6	+25.9	+3.3
Learning resources	Learning resources	8.5	3.8	4.7	+26.9	+5.4
Personal Tutor	Academic support	7.5	3.2	4.3	+16.9	−1.8
Feedback	Assessment and feedback	7.5	7.3	0.2	+0.6	+15.6
Student support	Academic support	7.1	6.2	0.9	+16.4	+3.2
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	6.8	3.5	3.3	−2.5	+6.6
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	4.4	6.7	−2.4	+36.7	+1.2
Delivery of teaching	The teaching on my course	4.1	5.4	−1.4	+4.0	−4.8
Module choice / variety	Learning opportunities	4.0	4.2	−0.2	+16.8	−0.5
Scheduling/ timetabling	Organisation and management	3.5	2.9	0.7	+18.4	+34.9

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Marking criteria	Assessment and feedback	3.3	3.5	−0.3	−41.9	+3.8
Costs / Value for money	Others	2.2	1.6	0.6	−41.7	+11.0
COVID-19	Others	2.2	3.3	−1.1	−33.9	−1.0
Assessment methods	Assessment and feedback	2.7	3.0	−0.3	−27.1	−3.3
IT Facilities	Learning resources	2.2	1.2	1.0	−20.5	−6.5
Opportunities to work with other students	Learning community	2.2	2.0	0.2	−12.4	−13.5
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	6.8	3.5	3.3	−2.5	+6.6

Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Personal development	Learning community	2.8	2.5	0.3	+54.8	−5.0
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	4.4	6.7	−2.4	+36.7	+1.2
Student life	Learning community	3.2	3.2	0.0	+31.4	−0.7
Learning resources	Learning resources	8.5	3.8	4.7	+26.9	+5.4
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	9.5	6.9	2.6	+25.9	+3.3
Scheduling/ timetabling	Organisation and management	3.5	2.9	0.7	+18.4	+34.9
Personal Tutor	Academic support	7.5	3.2	4.3	+16.9	−1.8

What this means in practice

Double-down on clarity in assessment. Publish annotated exemplars and checklist-style rubrics; host short calibration/Q&A sessions before submissions; and set realistic, communicated feedback SLAs. These moves directly address the most negative topics—marking criteria and assessment methods—while lifting the usefulness of feedback.
Preserve the strengths that students notice. Keep the breadth of content and access to learning resources visible and easy to navigate. Where “IT Facilities” are the weak link, address reliability first (logins, VLE stability, lab/software availability) and provide simple fallbacks when systems degrade.
Keep delivery predictable. The data suggest scheduling and course organisation are working relatively well compared with sector. Name owners for comms and timetables, maintain a single source of truth, and share brief weekly updates to prevent drift.
Make peer work safer and more structured. Where collaboration is necessary, specify roles, milestones and peer‑assessment mechanisms so individual effort is visible and group work feels fair.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Most-discussed topics by share: Type & breadth of course content (≈9.5%), Learning resources (≈8.5%), Personal Tutor (≈7.5%), Feedback (≈7.5%), Student support (≈7.1%), Remote learning (≈6.8%).
Delivery & ops cluster (remote learning, scheduling, organisation, course comms, placements): ~14.8% of all comments, generally above sector on tone (especially scheduling/organisation).
People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life): ~30.8% of comments, with consistently positive sentiment.
Topics under-weight vs sector: Teaching Staff (by share), Career guidance/support, Student voice, Placements/fieldwork. Over-weight vs sector: Learning resources, Personal Tutor, Remote learning.
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 priorities you can act on. It tracks topics, sentiment and movement by year across the whole institution and at fine‑grained levels (college, school, department, programme), so teams can see exactly where to focus—assessment clarity, scheduling/organisation, resources, or student support.

It also 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 whether Combined General or Negotiated Studies is improving relative to the right peer group. You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year, and generate concise, anonymised summaries for programme teams and external stakeholders without trawling thousands of comments. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across the institution.