Understanding the surveys

The survey is UK-wide and is conducted by Ipsos, an independent research agency on behalf of the Office for Students. Final-year undergraduates are invited to participate in the survey and give their views on all aspects of their academic experience. The core questions cover:

• Teaching 
• Learning opportunities
• Marking and assessment
• Academic support
• Organisation and management
• Learning resources
• Student voice

• Your views matter and help us to continuously develop and improve - see some of the changes made as a result of student feedback
• You'll also be helping others - the NSS results are made publicly available through Discover Uni to help prospective students, their families, and advisors make informed decisions about where and what to study
• As a thank you for completing the survey, you will be in entered into a prize draw to win £250 - there are two prize draw opportunities, and the winners will be announced in May

When the survey opens, if eligible, you can complete the NSS online. You will also receive a launch invitation email, followed by two reminders from the University. Ipsos will also contact you to complete the survey, initially by email and then by phone and SMS until you respond.

You’ll be asked to choose your institution, type in the 'University of Derby', and follow the instructions. Ipsos will ask for further information about you, so they know it is you completing. You can view further information about the Ipsos privacy statement and FAQs on their website.

You can check your eligibility by going to the student surveys checker and adding your student ID number. If eligible it will redirect you to the survey. No data is kept.

Please note, only the first time that you complete the survey will be registered. If there is anything else you want to tell us after you’ve completed the survey (or at any point during the year), you can email us at students@derby.ac.uk.

• The University doesn't see any individual response - please give your honest opinions
• The University receives aggregate anonymous data where at least 10 respondents have completed the survey in any given breakdown (e.g. by programme, department, etc)
• All free text comments are redacted by Ipsos and names of people are deleted so individuals cannot be identified
• Ipsos run the prize draw and notify the University of the winner at the end of the survey - the Student Engagement and Enhancement team will then get in touch with the lucky winners
• For further information, see our feedback privacy notice.

PTES is a national survey for postgraduate taught students run in conjunction with Advance HE. The PTES runs annually from February to June. Over one hundred universities and colleges take part. This means we can compare your experience with similar postgraduate students at other institutions. Your feedback is important. We use the findings to improve our courses. Look at some of the changes made as a result of student feedback. 

PTES covers students’ experiences in these key areas:

• Teaching and learning
• Engagement and course challenge
• Community and sense of belonging
• Assessment and feedback
• Organisation and management
• Learning resources
• Support
• Skills development
• Overall satisfaction

The questionnaire takes around 15 minutes to complete.

PTES is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, make changes that will improve what we do in the future, and keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future. 

As a thank you for completing the survey, you will be entered into a prize draw to win £250. There are two prize draw opportunities, and the winners will be announced in June.

You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire in early February. Simply click on the link and complete the survey. The survey is open until June.

You can check if you are eligible by going to the student surveys checker and adding your student ID number. If eligible, it will redirect you to the survey. No data is kept.

Note that you will not yet be eligible to complete the PTES if you began your course this January or later in this academic year, or if you are an online learning student that started in September of this academic year. We want to give you more time to settle into your studies. You can still however feedback about your experience at any time by contacting students@derby.ac.uk.

• Your survey response is confidential to the Student Engagement and Enhancement team processing the results and no reporting outside of this team will identify any individual
• Any results communicated to teaching staff will be aggregated and anonymised
• The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific members of staff
• For further information, see our feedback privacy notice

PRES is aimed at students studying on Postgraduate Research programmes. PRES is an external survey run by Advance HE which runs biennially from February to May. Eligible students will receive a unique link to complete the survey through their Unimail account. PRES concentrates on your course and includes questions about:

• Supervision
• Resources
• Research culture
• Community
• Progress and assessment
• Responsibilities
• Support
• Research skills and professional development

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future. 

Upon completion of the PRES, you will also be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win £250. 

You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire when you are eligible to complete it. Simply click on the link and complete the survey. The survey will be open to complete until May. 

You can also access the survey via our website.

• Your survey response is confidential to the Student Engagement and Enhancement team processing the results and no reporting outside of this team will identify any individual
• Any results communicated to teaching staff will be aggregated and anonymised
• The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific members of staff
• For further information, see our feedback privacy notice

The PQ provides an opportunity for undergraduate students in their Foundation stage, stage 1 or 2 to share views on their academic experience. Your feedback is important, and we use the findings to improve our courses. Look at some of the changes made as a result of student feedback.

The PQ runs annually at the end of programme sessions. 

The PQ covers students’ academic experiences in these key areas:

• Teaching
• Assessment
• Resources
• Development and skills
• Support and advice

The questionnaire takes around 5 minutes to complete.

The PQ is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us to make changes that will improve what we do in the future and keep doing the things that you value.

The PQ is analysed alongside your Module Evaluation Questionnaire (MEQ) feedback to support with the continuous review and enhancements of your programme curricula.

You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire when you are eligible to complete it. Simply click on the link and complete the survey.

You can also access your active PQ directly through the Surveys tile on UDo or via Single Sign-On at the Student Surveys Portal.

Your survey response is confidential and will be held securely. None of your teaching staff, nor anyone in your School or College will be able to identify you from your responses (unless you personally choose to identify yourself in your open comments).

Results will be reported back to relevant staff as aggregated data, including any open comments which will be grouped by question. Your individual set of responses cannot be seen by academic staff. However, please note that your comments will not be edited before staff see the set of all responses. So, if you refer to your own personal circumstances, this could make such a comment identifiable.

For further information, see our feedback privacy notice.

MEQ questions are the same for all modules. The questions mainly focus on learning, teaching, support and overall satisfaction. There are additional questions for Apprentices and Distance learners, specific to these modes of study. 

The MEQ has 10 core questions and takes just a few minutes, usually less than 5, to complete. There is also the opportunity for you to comment on your experience of the module, to highlight positive aspects and to make any suggestions for improvement. 

The collated feedback from the MEQ goes directly to the Module Leader. It is important information and beneficial in: 

• Helping them to understand your experiences
• Identifying areas of good practice
• Considering enhancements that could be made to their module for future delivery

Once they have had the opportunity to review the survey report, they will provide their reflections to you as an acknowledgement of your feedback and of any actions that may result. The MEQ report plays an important part in allowing your Module Leader to evaluate their module and incorporate your feedback into their continual monitoring reports.  

The MEQs are conducted online via EvaSys+ (online survey) and you will receive an invitation to participate via email. You can also access any live MEQs via: 

• The module information page on Blackboard 
• The ‘Surveys’ tile on UDo
• Via Single Sign On (SSO) at https://derby.surveys.evasysplus.co.uk/ 

The MEQ surveys are confidential. As long as you do not write anything in the open questions that makes you identifiable, academic staff will not know who gave which answers. Centrally, the system can track who has responded so that reminder emails are only sent to those who have yet to do so. This also enables analysis of data together with background information. The results of these analyses will be presented in a way that does not identify any individual.   

However, the University reserves the right to identify a respondent under certain circumstances, e.g. suspected breaches of the law or University policies and regulations, or a threat to student welfare. 

The Settling in Survey is for new students to complete shortly after they have started their programme in October or February. The core questions focus on:

• Preparedness for study
• Programme Induction
• Personal Academic Tutor (PAT)
• Support
• Your satisfaction with the welcome experience.

The Settling in Survey has 15 questions and takes around 5 minutes to complete. There is also the opportunity for you to highlight positive aspects and to make any suggestions for improvement.

Your unique experiences are important to us and your feedback provides the university with invaluable insight to continue to enhance the student experience. The collated feedback from the Settling in Survey goes directly to the programme team. It is important in helping them to understand your experience, identifying areas of good practice and enabling them to consider what enhancements could be made in the future for new students.  

If you are eligible to complete this survey, you will receive an email into your Unimail account with a link to the questionnaire. Simply click on the link and complete the survey. 

Your survey response is confidential, and the results are shared only internally. As long as you do not write anything in the open questions that makes you identifiable, staff will not know who gave the answer. 

In order to effectively evaluate the experience, the university will use your unique student ID to analyse responses against demographic data (including academic programme, disability, ethnicity, and age). The only identifier used will be student ID; no names will be saved against responses. All results are aggregated (categorised by specific demographics) before being shared with internal teams who review best practice and areas for enhancement internally.   

However, the University reserves the right to identify a respondent under certain circumstances, e.g. suspected breaches of the law or University policies and regulations, or a threat to student welfare. 

For further information, see our feedback privacy notice.

The Digital Experience Insights Survey is run annually in conjunction with the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). This survey forms part of the wider digital insights activity delivered by Jisc.  

The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. 

The Digital Experience Insights Survey is a national survey to find out more about how you use digital technologies and how this affects your learning experience. We have chosen to use the insights survey because we know digital issues are important to you. The insights survey will allow us to: 

• Find out how you would like digital technologies to be used in learning
• Understand how you use our digital learning environment and services and how we could improve them
• Target resources towards the issues that matter to you
• Better understand how we can support your digital capability and employability needs
• Work collaboratively with you to improve and shape your digital experience
• Help you reflect on your own digital learning experience and highlight areas you may wish to develop further

Upon completion of the survey, you will be invited to enter a prize draw to win either a 64GB Apple iPad or one of three £20 Amazon vouchers. 

The survey is promoted to students via all available communications channels (including email).

Responses to the Digital Experience Insights Survey from HE Students are anonymous. For the purposes of conducting surveys on behalf of customers where Jisc is a processor as outlined in schedule 2 of their terms and conditions, Jisc may process the following personal data. 

• IP addresses 
• Organisation/affiliations
• Age
• Special category data
• Other (as specified by the controller) 

To ensure that only University of Derby students can access the survey URL, you will be asked to complete a Microsoft form that is only accessible to students on our network. This form will record your name and provide access to the survey. 

After completing the survey, you will be directed towards a form where you can enter your details for a prize draw to win an iPad or one of three £20 Amazon vouchers. Your response to the survey will remain anonymous as the survey takes place in a different platform to these forms and your details will not be recorded against your survey response.   

For further information, see our feedback privacy notice.