Hi guys
The NUS conference has decided to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS) – the survey all final year students fill out - because it helps universities justify fee increases on their degrees via the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). An explanation of TEF can be found here:
http://wonkhe.com/blogs/incredible-machine-visual-guide-tef-2/
Staffordshire was one of many students' unions that signed a public letter published in The Guardian opposing TEF as it is the main cause of fee increases in British universities. As a students' union we wholly disagree with TEF but we disagree more with the decision to boycott the NSS. The Union uses the data to hold ourselves and the university to account and understand the issues that matter most to students. We believe we are better off using the NSS than not using it.
The NUS will be encouraging students across the country to either falsify information or abstain from taking part in an effort to discredit the NSS and make the data unusable for initiatives like TEF. But in turn this will leave it unusable for the institution and the Union.
So your officer team has decided that we will not be boycotting the NSS and would urge all third year students to join us in this way of thinking. Our reasons for this decision are here:
• The HE bill is being passed and the TEF will be happening: To boycott the NSS may jeopardise the NSS which we feel is a very positive way of looking at student satisfaction across the University. Therefore, if it is boycotted it could be abandoned altogether. This would not mean any great change, as the TEF relies on other areas as well as the NSS.
• It could put a strain on our partnership with the university: The partnership we have with the University is one that cannot be understated. The officer team have unrivalled access to the University's senior management to discuss our plans and work together for the betterment of the student experience. By boycotting the NSS, this could mean that they may not be as willing to listen to our needs and suggestions for improvements to the institution. We can achieve more by keeping a positive partnership, which delivers the best outcome for all.
• We believe a boycott or sabotage will have the opposite effect: The TEF will rely on many different things, one of which is the NSS. If the boycott is successful and then in the NSS Staffs slides down the rankings from its current position, who has won? We haven't, the university certainly hasn't, NUS hasn't and, most importantly, the students haven't.
Our neighbour Keele also feel that they cannot support the NSS sabotage and so we are working closely with their officer team on how we oppose this.
So to conclude this post we'd just like to say this. The NSS is not perfect. But it is the most effective way for us to understand what students want us to change and without that we would not be able to deliver the positive impacts that you have become accustomed to.
To help us succeed in stopping the boycott we will be attending a consultation on the sabotage of the NSS on the 30th August in the NUS offices in London. We hope this event will establish a future action plan for students and unions to get behind.
We will continue to update when we can.
Thanks for your time.
Your Union officer team