Placements and teaching delivery — what 2,687 pharmacy students say
Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Pharmacy (CAH02-02-03) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~2,687 comments; 98% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 55.6% Positive, 39.9% Negative, 4.6% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.39:1).
What students are saying
Pharmacy students devote the largest single share of comments to placements, fieldwork or trips. Around one in ten comments focus on placements (≈9.6% share), with tone mildly positive overall (sentiment index ~+4.6) but less positive than the sector benchmark. The balance of real-world exposure and the logistics around getting it (site capacity, scheduling, communication) pushes sentiment up or down.
Day-to-day teaching is a clear strength. Delivery of teaching (7.4% share) is strongly positive (index ~+30.2), as are Teaching Staff (5.9%; ~+41.3) and Student support (6.3%; ~+27.6). Students also respond well to the type and breadth of course content (6.8%; ~+23.9) and note tangible gains in personal development, confidence and readiness (2.7%; ~+71.3). Together, these “people & growth” themes account for roughly 29.0% of all comments.
Operational delivery remains the pressure point. Scheduling/timetabling (5.2%) is the most negative large category (index ~−35.1), and Workload (3.4%; ~−41.6) is similarly challenging. By contrast, the broad “Organisation, management of course” category (3.5%) trends positive for Pharmacy (index ~+10.3), suggesting that students differentiate between overall programme management and the mechanics of week‑to‑week timetabling. Communication about course and teaching (1.7%) is negative but less so than the sector.
In Assessment & Feedback, the pattern is familiar: Feedback (6.8%) is net negative when turnaround, usefulness and exemplars are unclear; Marking criteria (3.4%) is the most negative assessment topic (index ~−45.7); Assessment methods (3.3%) also lean negative. Remote learning (2.7%) is near-neutral. A few topics are notably under-represented versus sector—Module choice/variety (0.9% vs 4.2% sector) and Personal Tutor (1.0% vs 3.2%)—though where Personal Tutor is mentioned the tone is very positive.
Top categories by share (pharmacy vs sector):
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Placements/ fieldwork/ trips |
Learning opportunities |
9.6 |
3.4 |
6.2 |
4.6 |
-7.2 |
| Delivery of teaching |
The teaching on my course |
7.4 |
5.4 |
2.0 |
30.2 |
21.4 |
| Type and breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
6.8 |
6.9 |
-0.1 |
23.9 |
1.3 |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
6.8 |
7.3 |
-0.6 |
-12.2 |
2.8 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
6.3 |
6.2 |
0.1 |
27.6 |
14.5 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
5.9 |
6.7 |
-0.9 |
41.3 |
5.7 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling |
Organisation and management |
5.2 |
2.9 |
2.3 |
-35.1 |
-18.6 |
| Organisation, management of course |
Organisation and management |
3.5 |
3.3 |
0.1 |
10.3 |
24.3 |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment and feedback |
3.4 |
3.5 |
-0.2 |
-45.7 |
0.0 |
| Workload |
Organisation and management |
3.4 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
-41.6 |
-1.6 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment and feedback |
3.4 |
3.5 |
-0.2 |
-45.7 |
0.0 |
| Workload |
Organisation and management |
3.4 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
-41.6 |
-1.6 |
| Scheduling/timetabling |
Organisation and management |
5.2 |
2.9 |
2.3 |
-35.1 |
-18.6 |
| Assessment methods |
Assessment and feedback |
3.3 |
3.0 |
0.3 |
-24.0 |
-0.3 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
2.7 |
3.3 |
-0.6 |
-17.7 |
15.3 |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
6.8 |
7.3 |
-0.6 |
-12.2 |
2.8 |
| Student voice |
Student voice |
3.2 |
1.8 |
1.4 |
-6.6 |
12.6 |
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Personal development |
Learning community |
2.7 |
2.5 |
0.2 |
71.3 |
11.5 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
3.0 |
3.2 |
-0.2 |
53.6 |
21.5 |
| Availability of teaching staff |
Academic support |
2.7 |
2.1 |
0.6 |
50.0 |
10.7 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
5.9 |
6.7 |
-0.9 |
41.3 |
5.7 |
| Career guidance, support |
Learning community |
2.8 |
2.4 |
0.4 |
40.1 |
10.0 |
| Delivery of teaching |
The teaching on my course |
7.4 |
5.4 |
2.0 |
30.2 |
21.4 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
6.3 |
6.2 |
0.1 |
27.6 |
14.5 |
What this means in practice
-
Treat placements as a designed service. Confirm capacity early, publish allocation principles, and keep a single, up‑to‑date source of truth for changes. Build in a brief, structured feedback moment on each placement to improve the experience quickly.
-
Fix the operational rhythm. Students want predictability: a stable timetable, clear ownership for changes, and transparent rationale when plans move. A weekly “what changed and why” update and a named contact for timetabling reduce frustration.
-
Make assessment expectations unmistakable. Share annotated exemplars, use checklist-style rubrics, and set a realistic feedback turnaround SLA. This targets the most negative assessment topics—Marking criteria, Workload, and Feedback—without adding unnecessary burden.
-
Keep investing in what works. Delivery of teaching, Teaching Staff, Student support and Personal development are real strengths; make the practices behind these visible across modules.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Placements (≈9.6%), Delivery of teaching (≈7.4%), Type and breadth of course content (≈6.8%), Feedback (≈6.8%), Student support (≈6.3%).
- Delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, course comms, remote) ≈22.7% of all comments, with the main drag coming from Scheduling/timetabling.
- People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) ≈29.0%, with consistently positive tone.
- How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all categorised 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 action. It tracks topics and sentiment over time (by year) for every discipline, including Pharmacy, so programme and school teams can target high‑impact categories like Placements, Scheduling, Organisation, Communications, and Feedback.
It also enables robust, like‑for‑like sector comparisons across CAH codes and by demographics (e.g., year of study, domicile, mode of study, campus/site, commuter status). You can view whole‑institution patterns, then drill to faculty, school or programme, segment by site/provider, cohort or year, and produce concise, anonymised summaries for partners and internal stakeholders. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and demonstrate progress.