The Annual Student Priorities for Education report is a comprehensive overview of student feedback throughout the year.
It aims to provide a snapshot of the issues facing UCL students and recommended practises for staff across UCL. It looked at 6 main areas:
- Teaching and delivery
- Assessment and feedback
- Student support
- Department and Learning community
- Organisation and Management
- Facilities
The report drew on 3,516 comments from 194 sets of Student Staff Consultative Committee (SSCC) minutes, focus groups, and wider sectoral research and literature to understand both where we are and where we should aim to go.
Importantly, this report would not have been possible without the work of all of the student representatives who sit on the SSCC meetings.
Thank you for your hard work over the last year.
What we learnt about education at UCL
Last years Priorities for Education report saw a sharp increase in negative sentiment expressed by students in SSCC meetings compared to the previous academic year and before the pandemic.
Concerningly, this years’ report reveals another slight increase in overall negative sentiment regarding education issues.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching and Learning received the highest proportion of SSCC data of any theme. The results paint a mixed picture; whilst Teaching Delivery and Programme or Module Content scored the 7th and 5th highest of any sub-theme respectively, there were increased levels of dissatisfaction with Programme or Module Content and Learning Resources when compared to data from 2022-23.
The important issue of Postgraduate Teaching Assistants (PGTAs) employment conditions is also raised in this section.
Students who expressed positive sentiments in SSCCs often praised when there is a variety of teaching formats with group work and seminars to complement lectures, as well as the incorporation of guest lecturers.
Additionally students were happier when workload was manageable, lecture slides were provided in advance and recordings and video resources were uploaded in a timely manner.
However SSCC data also revealed that some modules have large volumes of content that is delivered in a short-time frame, causing increased stress levels amongst students.
Additionally students shared that reading lists and lectures slides are not being shared in advance of teaching hours, and rooms are not set up to enable Lecturecast.
It has also been highlighted that PGTAs are often receiving late payments for work conducted, a lack of clarity regarding terms and conditions of employment and inconsistencies between departments.
Assessment and Feedback
As discussed in previous iterations of the Student Priorities for Education Report, Assessment and Feedback continues to be an area of concern.
It has been found that feedback remains overwhelmingly negative, with students reporting dissatisfaction due to a lack of practice papers, assessment criteria and a lack of consistency across modules.
SSCCs also found that assessments are often bunched together causing increased academic pressure on students. Students also shared that assessment deadlines are clashing with various religious festivals.
This section also focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), and whilst UCL have produced guidance for departments for the use of AI tools in assessment, there is a lack of consistency in AI policies across departments.
Student support
Student Support refers to the range of measures UCL implement to aid students in navigating their academic experience, including personal tutors, transition mentoring, and provisions in place to support disabled students. Encouragingly, there has been an increase in positive sentiment compared to last year.
SSCC comments emphasised the positive impact of effective personal tutors especially where departments provide clear processes and communication about how to engage with them.
Disabled students were positive about their Summary of Reasonable Adjustments (SoRA) when they were being implemented successfully and there was effective communication between UCL Student Support and Wellbeing and the academic department.
Students also appreciated being provided with clear information about the upcoming academic year and welcome week activities.
However, there were concerns regarding inconsistencies in personal tutor processes and gaps in support for disabled studies, especially in relation to SoRAs being implemented correctly.
Students also reported that there was not sufficient information regarding academic expectations or knowledge required before initial lectures - this was particularly highlighed by Postgraduate Taught (PGT) and students that enter UCL through one of the Widening Participation pathways.
Departmental and Learning Community
Students’ sense of their Department and Learning Community is central to their wellbeing and wider academic experience. Within SSCC meetings, students spoke highly of departments who had organised events throughout all three academic terms. Students also commended clubs or societies within departments where students were able to organise and contribute towards events with departmental support.
Feedback from students also found they were generally positive about the SSCC format and praised departments who implemented a range of feedback mechanisms throughout the year.
Where students expressed negative sentiments, this typically focused on the desire for more social events. Concerningly, student frustrations regarding the feedback loop have persisted, which was highlighted in last year's Student Priorities for Education Report.
SSCCs have also shown that there is still a clear need both for improved teaching and social spaces on campus.
Organisation and Management
Organisation and Management encompass important topics including communication, class timetabling, and departmental IT. Communication, in line with previous years, continued to be the most raised sub-theme within Organisation and Management.
Where students expressed positive sentiment, they highlighted departments where information was communicated through multiple channels to ensure it was not missed, as well as praising staff who provided quick responses to students.
There were also positive comments regarding the responsiveness of IT staff and the improvements made in some areas.
One of the key concerns highlighted was timetables being released or changed with late notice. Many students reported that the timetabling system often displayed inaccuracies, leading to scheduling conflicts and timetabling clashes.
Academic Representatives also raised instances of staff being slow or nonresponsive to student emails. It was also highlighted that there are the inconsistencies and usability of Moodle pages which has caused difficulties for students to access information.
Facilities
Students generally felt negative about Facilities, with many of the frustrations captured in previous years - such as teaching rooms - persisting. Another growing concern for students is UCL buildings.
Unfortunately, many of the core frustrations expressed by students were also raised in last year’s Student Priorities for Education Report. These included the location and layout of rooms and challenges with audio-visual equipment.
Additional feedback related to rooms having poor temperature regulation, a lack of ventilation, and no windows.
These issues were of particular concern to disabled students. Our focus group with disabled students revealed widespread concerns regarding the inaccessibility of the UCL campus, with buildings often poorly maintained. For example, toilets, lifts and water fountains are frequently out of order.
What we recommend
Learning, Teaching and Assessment
- Move forward with the Programme Excellence Project so that programme diets, modules and assessments are more streamlined and comparable across UCL, to ensure students are supported in a fair and consistent manner to succeed.
- Programmes should offer a diverse range of assessment methods (including authentic assessment) that are spread across the duration of the module with less bunching of assessments and more opportunities for developmental feedback in between assessments to enhance learning.
- Promote greater use of lecture capture facilities to ensure more recordings are available to students, including those in smaller cohorts.
Postgraduate Teaching Assistants (PGTAs)
- Prioritise the implementation of the findings and recommendations from the PGTA Task & Finish Group.
- Ensure that all research students are fairly recruited, trained and inducted, consistently supported and supervised, and timely and adequately remunerated and rewarded.
- Establish clearer oversight and accountability for the employment of research students to support teaching and assessment activities, and ensure that there is consistent practice across departments.
Support & Community
- Commit significant investment into student facilities as a priority such as the Students’ Union building and sporting facilities, providing students a home away from home and supporting their wellbeing.
- Deliver on the findings and recommendations from Review of Personal Tutoring Arrangements.
- Conduct a review of how Statements of Reasonable Adjustments (SoRAs) are implemented in departments to ensure the burden does not fall on the student and they are supported in a timely and equitable manner so that they are able to reach their potential.
- Encourage departments to build stronger communities amongst their research students, so that they feel connected and are able to support one another.
Timetabling and Facilities
- Improve scheduling to ensure student timetables are delivered in a timely manner which is inclusive of the needs of the learner and supports their attendance with learning activities.
- Prioritise the implementation of UCL’s Inclusive Environments Policy and introduce a strengthened process of monitoring and accountability of departments over inclusive environments.
- Prioritise the maintenance of accessible bathrooms to ensure that these are clean, stocked, and functional.
- Improve communication strategies to ensure students are aware of resources such as the AccessAble UCL web page and updates to the UCL Go App.