Student Voice Analytics for Design Studies — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Design Studies (CAH25-01-03) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~5,238 comments; 96.9% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 55.9% Positive, 40.8% Negative, 3.3% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.37:1).

What students are saying

Design Studies students talk first about their physical and digital environment. General facilities are the single largest topic (8.3% share), and the tone is clearly positive (sentiment index +23.2), sitting broadly in line with the sector. The wider resources picture is mixed: Learning resources (2.3%) and Library (1.6%) are positive, while IT facilities (2.6%) lean negative (−10.4). In short, facilities matter and are noticed when they work well; IT reliability and access are more contested.

Teaching and support are strengths. Comments about Teaching Staff are frequent (7.2%) and notably positive (+39.6), with Delivery of teaching also positive (+12.2). Students value people-centred support: Student support (+22.3), Personal Tutor (+22.1) and the Availability of teaching staff (+42.7) all trend positive. Growth themes are strong too—Personal development carries one of the highest tones in the file (+61.3), and Career guidance & support is both more common than sector and well-received (+33.8). Community-facing topics such as Student life (+42.0) and opportunities to work with other students (+17.0) add to the positive picture.

Operational delivery remains a friction point. Scheduling/timetabling (3.1%) is clearly negative (−25.1); Organisation and management of the course (2.6%) is also negative (−20.2), and Communication about course and teaching (1.6%) is more negative still (−38.2). Remote learning (2.3%) trends negative (−15.4). Together, these “delivery mechanics” account for ~11% of all comments and lag sector on tone.

In Assessment & Feedback, the volume sits high and the story is nuanced. Feedback appears in 7.4% of comments and is near‑neutral on tone (+2.3), a markedly better position than the sector. However, clarity remains a pain point: Marking criteria (2.5%) is strongly negative (−41.9), and Workload (1.8%) is very negative (−44.0). Costs/value-for-money (3.8%) is a prominent and very negative theme (−54.5). By contrast, some topics are less present than sector—Module choice/variety (1.8% vs 4.2%) and Placements/fieldwork (1.4% vs 3.4%), with placements, where mentioned, tending positive (+22.8).

Top categories by share (Design Studies vs sector):

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
General facilities	Learning resources	8.3	1.8	6.5	+23.2	−0.2
Feedback	Assessment & feedback	7.4	7.3	0.1	+2.3	+17.4
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	7.2	6.7	0.5	+39.6	+4.1
Type & breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	6.7	6.9	−0.2	+25.5	+2.9
Student support	Academic support	5.7	6.2	−0.5	+22.3	+9.1
Personal development	Learning community	5.3	2.5	2.9	+61.3	+1.5
COVID-19	Others	4.7	3.3	1.4	−35.4	−2.4
Career guidance, support	Learning community	4.4	2.4	1.9	+33.8	+3.8
Costs / Value for money	Others	3.8	1.6	2.2	−54.5	−1.7
Delivery of teaching	The teaching on my course	3.7	5.4	−1.7	+12.2	+3.4

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Costs / Value for money	Others	3.8	1.6	2.2	−54.5	−1.7
Marking criteria	Assessment & feedback	2.5	3.5	−1.1	−41.9	+3.8
COVID-19	Others	4.7	3.3	1.4	−35.4	−2.4
Scheduling/timetabling	Organisation & management	3.1	2.9	0.2	−25.1	−8.5
Organisation & management of course	Organisation & management	2.6	3.3	−0.8	−20.2	−6.2
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	2.3	3.5	−1.2	−15.4	−6.4
IT Facilities	Learning resources	2.6	1.2	1.4	−10.4	+3.6

Shares are the proportion of all Design 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	5.3	2.5	2.9	+61.3	+1.5
Availability of teaching staff	Academic support	2.1	2.1	0.0	+42.7	+3.3
Student life	Learning community	3.0	3.2	−0.2	+42.0	+9.9
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	7.2	6.7	0.5	+39.6	+4.1
Career guidance, support	Learning community	4.4	2.4	1.9	+33.8	+3.8
Type & breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	6.7	6.9	−0.2	+25.5	+2.9
General facilities	Learning resources	8.3	1.8	6.5	+23.2	−0.2

What this means in practice

Keep the physical and digital environment predictable. Publish an up‑to‑date facilities and IT status page, with clear ownership, uptime targets and booking transparency. Small wins—faster fixes, visible maintenance schedules, quick user guidance—compound sentiment in high‑volume categories.
Protect the operational rhythm. Students want fewer surprises. A single source of truth for timetables and changes, a weekly “what’s new” digest, and lightweight change‑freeze windows around assessment peaks reduce avoidable frustration in scheduling, organisation and comms.
Make assessment clarity non‑negotiable. Retain the progress on Feedback (now near‑neutral and above sector), and tackle Marking criteria head‑on: use annotated exemplars, concise rubrics/checklists, and routine marker calibration; set and communicate realistic turnaround SLAs.
Address value concerns directly. Share full and transparent cost expectations (what is essential vs optional), offer low‑cost alternatives where feasible, and signpost hardship routes early—especially in modules with known cost pinch‑points.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Top topics by share: General facilities (≈8.3%), Feedback (≈7.4%), Teaching Staff (≈7.2%), Type & breadth of course content (≈6.7%), Student support (≈5.7%).
Delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, course comms, remote learning): ≈11.0% of all comments; tone generally negative (e.g., Scheduling −25.1, Organisation −20.2, Comms −38.2, Remote −15.4).
People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability of staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life): ≈29.3% with strongly positive tone (Personal development +61.3; Teaching Staff +39.6; Student life +42.0; Availability +42.7).
Assessment & feedback topics: ≈11.4% overall; Feedback is near‑neutral (+2.3) and well above sector; Marking criteria remains very negative (−41.9).
Costs / value for money is a visible concern at 3.8% with very negative tone (−54.5).

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 by tracking topics, sentiment and change over time for any discipline, including Design Studies. It supports whole‑institution views as well as fine‑grained department and school analysis, producing concise, anonymised summaries and representative comments for programme teams and external stakeholders—without trawling thousands of responses.

Crucially, it lets you evidence improvement with like-for-like sector comparisons across CAH codes and demographics (e.g., year of study, domicile, mode of study, campus/site, commuter status). You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year of study to see where interventions move sentiment most, and export ready‑made outputs (web, deck, dashboard) to share priorities and progress across the institution.