LiU students like their university

This year’s Student Satisfaction Index, NSI, has been submitted. When it comes to most aspects of student life, education and campus the students are more satisfied than before. 59% gave the highest mark, 5, when asked if they would recommend studying at LiU to others.

“Virtually all of the other respondents gave that question a four,” says Fredrik Larsson from Ramböll, the company that took charge of this year’s survey.

More than nine out of ten students recommend LiU – an impressive figure. The largest increase in this regard can be found among students at the Faculty of Health Sciences, where the number of fives has increased by 12% since the first NSI in 2008. The survey is carried out every other year.

“We will enjoy these results today, but tomorrow we will be back working harder than ever,” commented vice-rector Karin Fälth Magnusson after the first of three rounds of results was presented at Campus Valla.

After the previous survey in 2010 the university put together action plans for improvements in the areas that the students felt were important. These included a larger dining area, longer opening hours at the libraries and more places to study.

These initiatives have improved student satisfaction, as clearly indicated by this year’s survey. Now it’s time to draw up new action plans, and this autumn the university will present the areas selected for improvement. This time student requests focused mainly on the facilities. A number of comments were made about the working environment in the C-building, while others mentioned access to the internet, computers and software, printers and copying machines. Many students felt there is a lack of quiet places to relax in.

“But that is easily fixed. It would be much worse if lots of students were complaining about the educational aspects,” commented Fredrik Hylerstedt, education manager at LinTek.

The trend is also towards increasingly satisfied students when it comes to the courses on offer. 73% of respondents had given a four or five for their education on the whole, compared to 67% in 2010. However, many respondents requested better feedback on academic performance. The average for all programmes is just under four.

An even greater proportion, 83%, gave student life at LiU a four or five, a small increase from previous surveys. Many students are also involved in associations and student unions. Almost 40% of the respondents, or 2,948 students, said that they spend between 1-30 hours per week on these activities.

It is slightly surprising that only 16% of students said that finances can be an obstacle to their studies. In 2008, 25% said that their finances were a source of worry. The same number as now, a third, have regular part-time jobs.

But naturally there are also some answers that are worrying. A slightly larger number of students, mostly women, have experienced negative stress of some kind. The number has risen to 35%, up from 32% in 2010. And at the University of Technology, 12% of the female students feel that they have been discriminated against because of their gender, almost twice the figure for the rest of LiU.

“That sounds like a high figure, and it doesn’t really correspond to the picture we have, but so far we haven’t analysed this in detail,” says Marina Geijer, project manager for the NSI.

The result of the question about discrimination can’t really be compared with previous surveys, because the question is formulated differently in the new survey. But the figure is worrying for LinTek’s chair Johan Liljegren (pictured right):

“There is a gender imbalance in the technical courses, and that may be a factor. Naturally we will follow up on this as soon as we know more.”

7,489 students answered NSI 2012, a response rate of 50%. And the large number of open-ended answers – more than 4,000 – show that the students care. These answers will be analysed more closely in the future.

Read more about the Satisfied Student Index.

 

Gunilla Pravitz 2012-05-15