Student Voice Analytics for Earth Sciences — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Earth Sciences (CAH26-01-06) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~786 comments; 98.7% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 56.1% Positive, 40.2% Negative, 3.6% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.40:1).

What students are saying

Earth Sciences students talk first and foremost about learning beyond the classroom. Comments about placements, fieldwork and trips dominate the narrative (≈17.9% share) and are strikingly positive (sentiment index ≈ +50.3), well above the sector tone for this topic (+38.5 vs sector). Students emphasise the value of applied learning and authentic environments, and this strength sets the overall character of the course experience.

Around the core of field experience, students discuss delivery and operations. Taken together—scheduling, organisation and management, course communications and remote learning—this “delivery & ops” cluster plus placements accounts for just over a quarter of all comments (~25.8%). Within it, scheduling/timetabling (index ≈ −50.7) and course communications (≈ −30.9) are the main friction points by tone, while overall organisation and management sits slightly negative (≈ −10.0). Remote learning appears comparatively rarely here and trends positive.

People-centred themes are consistently strong. Teaching Staff (≈ +55.3) and the Availability of teaching staff (≈ +62.9) attract warm sentiment; Delivery of teaching is positive and above sector; Student support is a net positive; and Career guidance and support stands out (≈ +43.4). Students also report a very positive Student life.

Assessment & feedback is more mixed. Feedback is a frequent topic (≈7.9%) and trends negative when students are unsure about usefulness or turnaround. Marking criteria (≈ −47.4) and Assessment methods (≈ −19.6) are particular pain points, whereas Dissertation, while prominent by share, is closer to neutral in tone and above sector on sentiment.

A few topics are less present than in the wider sector: Module choice/variety, Student support (by share), Personal Tutor and Remote learning all attract fewer comments than sector norms, indicating attention is concentrated on applied learning and core delivery fundamentals.

Top categories by share (Earth Sciences vs sector)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Placements/ fieldwork/ trips	Learning opportunities	17.9	3.4	+14.5	+50.3	+38.5
Feedback	Assessment and feedback	7.9	7.3	+0.6	−17.1	−2.0
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	5.9	6.9	−1.0	+34.6	+12.0
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	5.8	6.7	−0.9	+55.3	+19.7
Dissertation	Assessment and feedback	4.6	1.1	+3.5	−1.4	+9.3
Student support	Academic support	4.3	6.2	−2.0	+16.5	+3.3
Delivery of teaching	The teaching on my course	3.6	5.4	−1.8	+15.4	+6.6
Career guidance, support	Learning community	3.5	2.4	+1.1	+43.4	+13.3
Organisation, management of course	Organisation and management	3.2	3.3	−0.1	−10.0	+3.9
Module choice / variety	Learning opportunities	3.0	4.2	−1.2	+3.2	−14.1

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Marking criteria	Assessment and feedback	2.6	3.5	−1.0	−47.4	−1.7
Workload	Organisation and management	2.3	1.8	+0.5	−41.3	−1.3
Assessment methods	Assessment and feedback	2.4	3.0	−0.5	−19.6	+4.1
COVID-19	Others	3.0	3.3	−0.4	−18.2	+14.7
Feedback	Assessment and feedback	7.9	7.3	+0.6	−17.1	−2.0
Organisation, management of course	Organisation and management	3.2	3.3	−0.1	−10.0	+3.9
Dissertation	Assessment and feedback	4.6	1.1	+3.5	−1.4	+9.3

Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Availability of teaching staff	Academic support	2.1	2.1	+0.0	+62.9	+23.6
Student life	Learning community	2.8	3.2	−0.3	+59.6	+27.5
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	5.8	6.7	−0.9	+55.3	+19.7
Placements/ fieldwork/ trips	Learning opportunities	17.9	3.4	+14.5	+50.3	+38.5
Career guidance, support	Learning community	3.5	2.4	+1.1	+43.4	+13.3
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	5.9	6.9	−1.0	+34.6	+12.0
General facilities	Learning resources	2.8	1.8	+1.1	+26.0	+2.5

What this means in practice

Protect and extend the strength in applied learning. Where fieldwork or placements are a signature feature, keep the logistics tight: publish clear pre-departure information, ensure host/site readiness is confirmed, and build in short, structured reflection/feedback moments to lock in learning while sentiment is already high.
Fix the operational rhythm. Students are asking for predictability. A single source of truth for timetables and changes, a weekly “what changed and why” update, and visible ownership for scheduling and course communications reduce avoidable friction.
Make assessment expectations unambiguous. Publish annotated exemplars, checklist-style rubrics, and realistic feedback SLAs. These steps directly target the weakest sentiment areas—Marking criteria, Feedback and Assessment methods—and will lift the overall experience quickly.
Keep access to people visible. Maintain the accessibility of academic staff and signpost support channels; the strong sentiment on staff availability and teaching quality suggests these interactions are a key asset.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Top topics by share: Placements/fieldwork/trips (≈17.9%), Feedback (≈7.9%), Type and breadth of course content (≈5.9%), Teaching Staff (≈5.8%), Dissertation (≈4.6%).
Cluster view:
- Delivery & ops (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote): ~25.8% of all comments; timetabling and course comms lean negative, but placements are notably positive.
- People & growth (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability of staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life, career guidance): ~24.3%, with consistently 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), 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 by year so you can see where teaching, delivery and assessment are improving or drifting—across the whole institution and in fine‑grained department and school views.

It also produces concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments for programme teams and external partners, saving time while keeping attention on what matters most. 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 progress relative to the right peer group. Segment by site/provider, cohort or year to target interventions precisely, and share export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) to align stakeholders around the same priorities.