What are students actually saying about Organisation management of course (NSS 2018–2025)?

Students’ views on how their course is organised lean negative overall, with clear differences by age, mode and subject area. Full-time and younger students drive most of the volume and are more critical; part-time and mature cohorts are notably more positive. Creative and built-environment disciplines read more negative than most; mathematical sciences, combined/general studies and psychology are positive outliers.

Scope: UK NSS open-text comments for Organisation management of course across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume: ~12,696 comments; 100.0% assigned sentiment.
Overall mood: 43.6% Positive, 52.2% Negative, 4.2% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 0.84:1; sentiment index −0.3).

What students are saying in this category

The day-to-day experience of course organisation is more negative than positive overall (52.2% negative vs 43.6% positive).
Cohort effects are pronounced:
- Young students (70.0% of comments) are notably negative (index −7.2), while mature students are positive (index +17.7).
- Full-time students (75.7% of comments) are negative (index −9.5); part-time students are strongly positive (index +34.3).
- Disabled students are more negative (index −7.4) than those not disabled (+1.6).
Subject mix matters. Creative/performing arts and architecture/building show the lowest tone. Psychology, mathematical sciences and combined/general studies are the most positive.

Benchmarks across key segments

Sentiment index ranges −100 to +100; higher is more positive.

Segment	N	Share %	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Age — Young	8,890	70.0	38.9	56.7	−7.2
Age — Mature	3,522	27.7	55.6	40.5	+17.7
Mode — Full-time	9,617	75.7	37.1	58.3	−9.5
Mode — Part-time	2,634	20.7	67.7	29.0	+34.3
Mode — Apprenticeship	139	1.1	33.8	61.9	−9.3
Sex — Female	7,034	55.4	41.7	54.0	−2.6
Sex — Male	5,361	42.2	46.2	49.6	+3.1
Disability — Not disabled	10,038	79.1	44.6	51.0	+1.6
Disability — Disabled	2,376	18.7	39.2	57.0	−7.4

Subject mix (CAH groups — selected, by volume)

Rows exclude Unknown/Unspecified.

CAH subject group	N	Share %	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
(CAH02) Subjects allied to medicine	1,363	10.7	36.4	59.1	−9.8
(CAH15) Social sciences	1,134	8.9	47.4	48.6	+4.6
(CAH17) Business and management	816	6.4	53.2	43.3	+14.7
(CAH04) Psychology	708	5.6	58.5	37.6	+22.5
(CAH01) Medicine and dentistry	698	5.5	37.4	58.9	−10.3
(CAH10) Engineering and technology	661	5.2	42.8	52.8	−3.2
(CAH11) Computing	618	4.9	47.1	49.7	+2.0
(CAH16) Law	507	4.0	49.3	45.6	+10.0
(CAH03) Biological and sport sciences	442	3.5	47.7	48.6	+3.6
(CAH23) Combined and general studies	431	3.4	61.0	36.2	+25.3
(CAH25) Design, and creative and performing arts	383	3.0	26.4	67.4	−23.0
(CAH09) Mathematical sciences	250	2.0	60.4	36.4	+25.2

What this means in practice

Stabilise the full-time experience
- Publish timetables earlier with a clear change window and a weekly “what changed and why” note.
- Track timetable stability (% sessions changed after release) and minimum notice period; target fewer late changes for high‑enrolment modules.
Design for young/mature mix
- For younger cohorts, set predictable rhythms: single source of truth for comms, named owner for operations, and rapid triage for issues.
- For mature and part-time students, preserve what works (e.g., advance notice, fewer clashes); codify these practices across programmes.
Improve accessibility of course operations
- Disabled students show lower sentiment; provide accessible schedules (machine-readable, mobile-friendly), alternative arrangements, and clear routes for adjustments.
Subject-sensitive ops
- Creative and built-environment programmes need robust room/equipment booking and visible change control; agree service levels with technical teams.
- Use positive outliers (psychology, mathematical sciences, combined/general) to surface transferable practices (e.g., assessment calendars, standardised handbooks).
Measure and close the loop
- Minimum metrics: response time to student queries, time-to-resolution, change lead time, and backlog by theme.
- Review the sentiment index monthly by cohort/mode and publish actions taken.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

See the Organisation management of course theme in one place with sentiment over time and by segment (age, mode, disability, CAH subject group).
Drill from provider to school/department and cohort, generating concise anonymised summaries for programme and operations teams.
Like-for-like comparisons across CAH codes and demographics to spot where organisation practices diverge.
Export-ready tables/briefings to share quickly with timetabling, exams and student comms teams.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Volume: ~12,696 comments; 100.0% sentiment coverage.
Overall mood: 43.6% Positive, 52.2% Negative, 4.2% Neutral (index −0.3; ≈0.84:1 positive:negative).
Composition: 75.7% full-time; 20.7% part-time. 70.0% young; 27.7% mature. 55.4% female; 42.2% male.
Notable segments: Part-time (+34.3), Mature (+17.7) vs Young (−7.2) and Full-time (−9.5). Creative arts (−23.0) and Architecture (−18.8) are low; Mathematical sciences (+25.2), Combined/general (+25.3) and Psychology (+22.5) are high.