Student Voice Analytics for Tourism Transport and Travel — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open‑text comments for Tourism Transport and Travel (CAH17-01-06) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~1,094 comments; 97.5% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 51.8% Positive, 44.8% Negative, 3.4% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.16:1).

What students are saying

Tourism Transport and Travel students talk first and foremost about the people who teach them. Comments about Teaching Staff are the biggest single topic (≈10.6% share) and are clearly positive in tone (index ~+31.3), though a touch below the wider sector on sentiment. Students also discuss the Delivery of teaching (≈5.9%) and the Type and breadth of course content (≈5.7%), both of which are net positive and close to sector norms.

A strong thread in this discipline is applied learning and progression. Placements/fieldwork/trips appear in about 5.0% of comments and are mildly positive overall (index ~+10.9). Career guidance and support is a visible strength (≈4.9% share; index ~+36.4, above sector), and Student life is notably upbeat (index ~+49.6, well above sector). Personal development is strongly positive too (index ~+74.2), and although Personal Tutor is a smaller topic by volume (≈1.2%), students rate it very highly (index ~+59.4, far above sector).

Operational delivery attracts a meaningful slice of the conversation and tends to be negative. Remote learning is the weakest of the teaching delivery topics (index ~−31.2, well below sector). Scheduling/timetabling (index ~−31.6) and Organisation & management of course (index ~−35.2) also lean negative, as do Communication with supervisor/lecturer/tutor (index ~−27.5). Together with course communications and placements, this delivery & operations cluster accounts for around 15.8% of all comments.

Assessment & feedback shows a familiar pattern. Feedback is a frequent theme (≈5.2%) and remains slightly negative (index ~−6.0), though it performs better than the sector. Marking criteria (≈3.3%) is strongly negative (index ~−43.3) where expectations are unclear. By contrast, Assessment methods (≈3.3%) sits close to neutral and above sector on sentiment, and Dissertation sentiment trends better than sector despite modest volume.

Finally, some topics are less prominent here than in the sector: Module choice/variety (2.6% vs 4.2% sector) and Learning resources (0.9% vs 3.8%) attract fewer comments, suggesting attention is focused more on delivery, progression and applied learning than on choosing modules or commenting on generic facilities.

Top categories by share (Tourism Transport and Travel vs sector)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Teaching Staff	The teaching on my course	10.6	6.7	+3.8	31.3	−4.2
Delivery of teaching	The teaching on my course	5.9	5.4	+0.5	7.9	−0.9
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	5.7	6.9	−1.2	19.3	−3.3
Student support	Academic support	5.2	6.2	−1.1	10.6	−2.6
Feedback	Assessment and feedback	5.2	7.3	−2.2	−6.0	+9.0
Placements/ fieldwork/ trips	Learning opportunities	5.0	3.4	+1.5	10.9	−0.9
Career guidance, support	Learning community	4.9	2.4	+2.5	36.4	+6.4
Student life	Learning community	3.8	3.2	+0.7	49.6	+17.5
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	3.7	3.5	+0.3	−31.2	−22.1
COVID-19	Others	3.4	3.3	+0.0	−45.0	−12.0

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Category	Section	Share %	Sector %	Δ pp	Sentiment idx	Δ vs sector
Costs / Value for money	Others	2.8	1.6	+1.2	−60.8	−8.0
COVID-19	Others	3.4	3.3	+0.0	−45.0	−12.0
Marking criteria	Assessment and feedback	3.3	3.5	−0.3	−43.3	+2.4
Organisation, management of course	Organisation and management	2.6	3.3	−0.7	−35.2	−21.2
Scheduling/ timetabling	Organisation and management	2.8	2.9	−0.1	−31.6	−15.1
Remote learning	The teaching on my course	3.7	3.5	+0.3	−31.2	−22.1
Communication with supervisor, lecturer, tutor	Academic support	2.3	1.7	+0.6	−27.5	−19.4

Shares are the proportion of all Tourism Transport and Travel 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	2.1	2.5	−0.4	+74.2	+14.4
Student life	Learning community	3.8	3.2	+0.7	+49.6	+17.5
Career guidance, support	Learning community	4.9	2.4	+2.5	+36.4	+6.4
Teaching Staff	Teaching	10.6	6.7	+3.8	+31.3	−4.2
Availability of teaching staff	Academic support	2.6	2.1	+0.5	+30.5	−8.8
General facilities	Learning resources	2.1	1.8	+0.3	+21.0	−2.5
Type and breadth of course content	Learning opportunities	5.7	6.9	−1.2	+19.3	−3.3

What this means in practice

Keep investing in the human fundamentals. Students notice and value staff expertise, access and encouragement. Protect visible contact points (lecturer availability, personal tutoring) and keep the delivery scaffolding clear and predictable so that teaching quality shines through.
Stabilise the operational rhythm. A single source of truth for timetables and changes, named ownership for course communications, and a light weekly update reduce frustration in scheduling, organisation and remote learning. Where delivery must change, explain what changed and why.
Make assessment expectations unmissable. Publish annotated exemplars, checklist-style rubrics and clear turnaround standards. These moves typically lift Feedback sentiment and reduce negative comments on Marking criteria.
Sustain applied and progression elements. Placements/fieldwork are broadly positive; maintain placement briefs, supervision and on‑site feedback. Continue the strong work on career guidance and signpost routes into industry-facing opportunities.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Top topics by share: Teaching Staff (≈10.6%), Delivery of teaching (≈5.9%), Type and breadth of course content (≈5.7%), Student support (≈5.2%), Feedback (≈5.2%), Placements/fieldwork/trips (≈5.0%).
Cluster view: Delivery & ops (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote) ≈15.8% of all comments; People & growth (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life) ≈31.4%.
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 to +100, 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 over time for every discipline, and supports analysis at whole‑institution level as well as at school, department and programme level.

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 improvement against the right peer group. You can segment by site/provider, cohort and year, and generate concise, anonymised summaries and representative comments for partners and programme teams. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across your institution.