Support and guidance come first — what 2,189 health studies students say
Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Health Studies (CAH15-04-03) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~2,189 comments; 95.1% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 56.5% Positive, 39.7% Negative, 3.9% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.42:1).
What students are saying
Health Studies students talk most about support, guidance and the practicalities of learning. Comments about Student support and Personal Tutor together account for about one in five remarks by volume (≈10.8% and 9.5% respectively). Tone on Student support is notably positive (index ~+27.3), while Personal Tutor is positive but slightly below the sector on tone. Students also comment frequently on Feedback (7.8%), Type and breadth of course content (7.4%), Remote learning (7.2%) and Learning resources (7.0%). These topics are generally mixed-to-positive in tone, with Feedback performing much better than sector on sentiment.
People-centred strengths stand out. Teaching Staff is warmly reviewed (index ~+36.9), and Personal development is one of the most positive categories in the file (index ~+65.6). Student life is also viewed favourably. These themes together form a large “people & growth” cluster that dominates the narrative and carries a positive tone.
Operational delivery reads more mixed—though, relative to the sector, there are bright spots. Scheduling/timetabling (index ~+21.1) and Organisation, management of course (+22.2) trend positive and above sector on tone; Remote learning is broadly neutral (+0.8) but above sector. By contrast, Communication about course and teaching is a smaller but more critical theme (−22.6). Where students mention placements/fieldwork (0.8% share), the tone is sharply negative (−46.4), albeit on low volume.
Assessment and workload are the main friction points. Marking criteria (−38.2) and Assessment methods (−24.7) are clearly negative; Workload is also under strain (−36.3). The pattern suggests students want clearer expectations and better calibration of criteria, while feedback itself is comparatively more constructive than the sector.
Top categories by share (Health Studies vs sector)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Student support |
Academic support |
10.8 |
6.2 |
4.6 |
27.3 |
14.1 |
| Personal Tutor |
Academic support |
9.5 |
3.2 |
6.3 |
12.1 |
-6.6 |
| Feedback |
Assessment & feedback |
7.8 |
7.3 |
0.5 |
4.7 |
19.8 |
| Type & breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
7.4 |
6.9 |
0.5 |
26.7 |
4.1 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
7.2 |
3.5 |
3.7 |
0.8 |
9.8 |
| Learning resources |
Learning resources |
7.0 |
3.8 |
3.2 |
13.1 |
-8.4 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
4.9 |
6.7 |
-1.8 |
36.9 |
1.4 |
| Personal development |
Learning community |
4.3 |
2.5 |
1.9 |
65.6 |
5.8 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
3.8 |
3.2 |
0.6 |
42.0 |
9.9 |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment & feedback |
3.3 |
3.5 |
-0.2 |
-38.2 |
7.5 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment & feedback |
3.3 |
3.5 |
-0.2 |
-38.2 |
7.5 |
| Workload |
Organisation & management |
2.0 |
1.8 |
0.2 |
-36.3 |
3.7 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment & feedback |
2.1 |
3.0 |
-0.9 |
-24.7 |
-1.0 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
3.1 |
3.3 |
-0.3 |
-16.1 |
16.8 |
| Communication with supervisor/lecturer |
Academic support |
2.2 |
1.7 |
0.5 |
-6.2 |
1.8 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
7.2 |
3.5 |
3.7 |
0.8 |
9.8 |
| Module choice / variety |
Learning opportunities |
2.2 |
4.2 |
-2.0 |
3.9 |
-13.5 |
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Personal development |
Learning community |
4.3 |
2.5 |
1.9 |
65.6 |
5.8 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
3.8 |
3.2 |
0.6 |
42.0 |
9.9 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
4.9 |
6.7 |
-1.8 |
36.9 |
1.4 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
10.8 |
6.2 |
4.6 |
27.3 |
14.1 |
| Type & breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
7.4 |
6.9 |
0.5 |
26.7 |
4.1 |
| Availability of teaching staff |
Academic support |
2.9 |
2.1 |
0.8 |
24.0 |
-15.3 |
| Organisation & management |
Organisation & management |
3.0 |
3.3 |
-0.4 |
22.2 |
36.2 |
What this means in practice
-
Keep people-centred support visible and easy to access. The high share and positive tone around Student support and Teaching staff show this is a defining strength. Maintain clear points of contact, quick responses and proactive check‑ins, especially around deadlines and transitions.
-
Clarify assessment expectations. The negativity around Marking criteria and Assessment methods suggests students need clearer “what good looks like” signals. Provide short annotated exemplars, checklist-style rubrics and module‑level calibration notes; commit to realistic turnaround times so Feedback remains constructive.
-
Tighten routine operations. Scheduling and Organisation are performing well—consolidate by maintaining a single, trustworthy source of truth for changes. Where communications about the course are cited negatively, standardise update cadence, owners and channels.
-
Watch workload shape and peaks. Map expected effort across modules to avoid bunching; publish week‑by‑week views so students can plan. Where placements/fieldwork arise (low volume here), address basics: confirm arrangements early, make contacts explicit and set expectations for on‑site support.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Student support (≈10.8%), Personal Tutor (≈9.5%), Feedback (≈7.8%), Type & breadth of course content (≈7.4%), Remote learning (≈7.2%), Learning resources (≈7.0%).
- Delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, course comms, remote) accounts for ≈15.5% of all comments. Tone is mixed but, relative to sector, Scheduling and Organisation are more positive; course comms remains a smaller pain point; placements are rare but strongly negative when raised.
- People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability of teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) represents ≈39.1% of comments and carries 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 calculated per sentence and summarised as an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative), then averaged by category.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open-text survey responses into clear priorities. It tracks topics and sentiment over time so programme and school teams can see what is driving the student experience in Health Studies and how it changes year by year (2018–2025).
It supports whole‑institution views as well as fine‑grained analysis by department and school, producing concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments for stakeholders and programme teams. 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 against the right peer group. You can also segment by site/provider, cohort and year to target interventions where they will move sentiment most. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across the institution.