In Term Three last year we asked you to fill our annual survey, Rate Your Union, to tell us what you think about our provision of activities, services and events throughout the academic year. It’s time to share the results!
In Term Three last year we asked you to fill our annual survey, Rate Your Union, to tell us what you think about our provision of activities, services and events throughout the academic year. It’s time to share the results!
>>what is rate your union?
Every May, we ask questions in our Rate Your Union survey to learn more about how students rate us as an organisation. The aim of the survey is to learn more about students’ engagement with our services over the last year, and your responses help guide our plans for the next academic year. As members, you’re best placed to tell us what we’re doing right and, more importantly, where we can improve as a Students’ Union! Last year we changed our survey to gain insight into different areas of the student experience and track our key performance indicators (KPIs) for our new strategy, Building Community, Leading Change. We’ve shared what we learned below!
>>what we learned
Last year, Rate Your Union had a maximum of 1099 student respondents across all year groups. Not all students answered every question in the survey because of logic skips, previous answer choices, how much they engage with Students’ Union activities, services and events, and whether they completed the entire survey. Check out the demographic breakdown of respondents below!
Student Group Committee Member and Student Voice Leader Experience
Our voluntary student leaders like Academic Reps, School Reps, Community Officers and student group Committee Members are key to our organisation. Their time, energy and dedication help shape a vibrant, inclusive and student-led community on campus. Building Communities for all Students is one of our four key strategic aims, and we wanted to learn more about their experiences as volunteers in these roles. See what they said below!
Student Voice and Representation
Building Stronger Student Voice and Representation is another one of our four key strategic aims at the Students’ Union. We asked all students in the survey whether they had engaged with our student leaders and/or campaigns during the academic year, and whether they felt the Students’ Union represents them on issues that matter to them. See what they said below about this important KPI around representation.
The Union Helpdesk and Advice Centre
Services like the Union Helpdesk and Advice Centre fall under the umbrella of our strategic aim, Providing Advice and Advocating for Students. The survey asked students how they learned about and engaged with the Student’s Union Advice Centre and Helpdesk last academic year. Students who have not used these services were still able to rate their agreement with one of our KPIs around whether the Students’ Union provides useful advice and guidance around university life at Royal Holloway. Results are shared below.
Venues and Events
Providing Inclusive Activity and Spaces is our final strategic aim. Last year the Students’ Union changed questions about our venues and events, aligning questions with our new strategy for these services. We wanted to learn more about which venues students visited last year and their satisfaction with our social spaces on campus during daytime and late-night events. We additionally wanted to learn more about whether students felt our spaces were safe and inclusive to all students. See what they said below.
Marketing and Communication
Improving the way we communicate with students is a KPI we value highly at the Students’ Union. Questions around marketing and communication in last year’s survey asked students to list which platforms they use to engage with the Students’ Union to learn more about our activities and events throughout the academic year. We additionally asked them to rate their agreement around one of our KPI statements: ‘I am kept well informed about what the Students’ Union does.’
What would you change?
Every year in Rate Your Union we ask students about what sort of changes they would like to make to their student experience at Royal Holloway. We focus these questions in three areas: the Students’ Union, the University or academic department and the local community. These answers feed into our Priority 20 ballot for the Leadership elections which inform our Priority 8 for the next academic year. Below you can see the results for what 784 students said they would change about the Students’ Union.
Overall Performance and Key Performance Indicators
All the Rate Your Union questions in the new survey address the four areas of our new strategy and how they relate to the student experience when engaging with the Students’ Union. We concluded the survey with five questions which looked deeper into our impact as a Students’ Union around belonging, transparency, representation, and overall satisfaction. These questions were grouped together as a single list and students were able to rate their agreement for each question. You can see their responses below.
>>Next steps
These are just some of the figures we’ve pulled from the survey. Over the summer we reviewed all the student feedback from Rate Your Union and are now using that information to implement positive changes in our activities and services to improve your experience with the Students’ Union this year. Watch this space for more updates!