Student Voice Analytics for Politics — UK student feedback 2018–2025
Scope. UK NSS open‑text comments for Politics (CAH15-03-01) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~9,096 comments; 97% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 51.0% Positive, 45.5% Negative, 3.5% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.12:1).
What students are saying
Politics students talk first about the shape of the curriculum. Comments on Module choice/variety carry the highest share (≈7.7%) and a positive tone (index +22.8), well above the sector by share (+3.6 pp). The Type and breadth of course content is similarly prominent (≈6.9%, index +22.8, at sector share). Students are also warm about the people who teach them: Teaching Staff is strongly positive (≈6.9%, +37.0) and Delivery of teaching trends positive (≈6.1%, +9.0), both at or above sector tone.
Assessment and feedback is the most consistent source of friction. Feedback is frequently mentioned (≈7.4%) and negative on tone (−17.3). Marking criteria attracts fewer comments but is strongly negative (−49.0), and Assessment methods (−20.1) also leans negative (albeit a little less so than sector). The pattern points to familiar issues: clarity of criteria, exemplars to show standards, and feedback that is timely and useful for the next task.
Operational topics appear in a smaller proportion of comments than in placement‑heavy subjects, but they lean negative: Organisation and management of course (≈3.2%, −22.9), Remote learning (≈2.7%, −13.9), Communication about course and teaching (≈1.3%, −43.9) and Scheduling/timetabling (≈1.6%, −18.3). Together with Placements/fieldwork/trips (rare in this discipline at ≈0.3% vs 3.4% sector), this delivery & ops cluster accounts for about 9% of all comments and sits below sector on tone for most of these topics.
External context is still visible. Strike Action is unusually prominent for Politics (≈4.6% vs 1.7% sector) and extremely negative (−62.4). COVID‑19 remains a negative backdrop (−40.5). Costs/Value for money also attracts notable criticism (≈2.1%, −56.5).
Support and community are mixed. Student support sits around neutral (≈5.4%, −0.5) and below sector tone, while Personal Tutor (≈2.1%, +1.9) underperforms sector expectations. By contrast, Availability of teaching staff is a clear positive (≈1.6%, +46.5). Student life is positive in level (≈3.5%, +13.4) but well below the sector benchmark for tone.
Top categories by share (politics vs sector):
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Module choice / variety | Learning opportunities | 7.7 | 4.2 | 3.6 | +22.8 | +5.4 |
| Feedback | Assessment & feedback | 7.4 | 7.3 | 0.1 | -17.3 | -2.2 |
| Type and breadth of course content | Learning opportunities | 6.9 | 6.9 | 0.0 | +22.8 | +0.2 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 6.9 | 6.7 | 0.2 | +37.0 | +1.5 |
| Delivery of teaching | The teaching on my course | 6.1 | 5.4 | 0.6 | +9.0 | +0.3 |
| Student support | Academic support | 5.4 | 6.2 | -0.8 | -0.5 | -13.7 |
| Strike Action | Others | 4.6 | 1.7 | 2.9 | -62.4 | +0.6 |
| Marking criteria | Assessment & feedback | 4.3 | 3.5 | 0.7 | -49.0 | -3.3 |
| Learning resources | Learning resources | 3.5 | 3.8 | -0.2 | +24.1 | +2.7 |
| Student life | Learning community | 3.5 | 3.2 | 0.3 | +13.4 | -18.7 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strike Action | Others | 4.6 | 1.7 | 2.9 | -62.4 | +0.6 |
| Costs / Value for money | Others | 2.1 | 1.6 | 0.5 | -56.5 | -3.7 |
| Marking criteria | Assessment & feedback | 4.3 | 3.5 | 0.7 | -49.0 | -3.3 |
| COVID-19 | Others | 2.6 | 3.3 | -0.8 | -40.5 | -7.5 |
| Organisation, management of course | Organisation & management | 3.2 | 3.3 | -0.2 | -22.9 | -9.0 |
| Assessment methods | Assessment & feedback | 2.6 | 3.0 | -0.4 | -20.1 | +3.6 |
| Feedback | Assessment & feedback | 7.4 | 7.3 | 0.1 | -17.3 | -2.2 |
Shares are the proportion of all Politics 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 | 2.2 | 2.5 | -0.3 | +62.6 | +2.8 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 6.9 | 6.7 | 0.2 | +37.0 | +1.5 |
| Learning resources | Learning resources | 3.5 | 3.8 | -0.2 | +24.1 | +2.7 |
| Module choice / variety | Learning opportunities | 7.7 | 4.2 | 3.6 | +22.8 | +5.4 |
| Type and breadth of course content | Learning opportunities | 6.9 | 6.9 | 0.0 | +22.8 | +0.2 |
| Library | Learning resources | 2.5 | 1.8 | 0.7 | +19.7 | -7.0 |
| Student life | Learning community | 3.5 | 3.2 | 0.3 | +13.4 | -18.7 |
What this means in practice
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Make assessment clarity non‑negotiable. Publish concise marking guides and annotated exemplars, align rubrics across modules, and agree a realistic feedback SLA. Emphasise “feed‑forward” comments that explain how to improve on the next task.
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Tighten the operational rhythm. Use a single source of truth for timetables, assessments and room changes; issue a brief weekly “what changed and why” update; and name an owner for course‑level organisation and communications.
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Strengthen student support and tutoring. Set service standards (response times, touchpoints), signpost specialist help clearly, and ensure students know how personal tutors can advocate and escalate on their behalf.
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Address the external headwinds. Where industrial action or pandemic‑related disruption has occurred, document mitigations (teaching replacements, assessment adjustments, extensions/compensation) and communicate them transparently. Be explicit about what is and isn’t included in fees to reduce “value for money” frustration.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Top topics by share: Module choice/variety (≈7.7%), Feedback (≈7.4%), Type & breadth of course content (≈6.9%), Teaching Staff (≈6.9%), Delivery of teaching (≈6.1%).
- Cluster view: the delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote) accounts for ≈9.1% of all comments and is generally below sector on tone; the people & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) holds ≈27.8% with a largely positive tone.
- Over/under‑representation vs sector: Module choice is over‑discussed (+3.6 pp); Strike Action is more present (+2.9 pp); Placements/fieldwork/trips are far less present (0.3% vs 3.4% sector).
- How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all comments. Sentiment is averaged per category on an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative).
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open‑text survey comments into clear, prioritised actions. It tracks topics and sentiment over time, so programme and school teams can see what’s moving by year and why, at whole‑institution level and down to fine‑grained department or course level.
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 improvement against the right peer group. Concise, anonymised summaries and representative comments make it easy to brief programme teams and external partners. You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year of study, then export shareable outputs (web, deck, dashboard) to align priorities and track progress.
