Cranfield University

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Even though the majority of students are only at Cranfield for one year, their views are really important to us and their feedback helps shape the experience of our future students.

Cranfield takes part in two national surveys; Postgraduate Research Experience Survey & the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey, in partnership with the Higher Education Academy, to explore the experiences of postgraduate  students across the UK and enhance the quality of postgraduate research and taught degree provision nationally.

We also carry out two internal student surveys every year and feedback helps us to identify areas we can improve to enhance our student experience.

Our New Student Survey takes place every November and explores why students chose Cranfield and their first impressions of campus life. This is followed by our Student Satisfaction Survey in July/August. This survey is sent to all students due to complete their studies that academic year and looks at their experience of the University's services.  

What do we do with the results?
We are committed to a programme of improvements across the year following each annual gathering of student feedback. Recent projects have included:

Registration
Our registration event at the Cranfield campus has been completely overhauled to make it much easier; both the physical space and enhanced structure. The aim was to make the whole process shorter and smoother.  Overall 73% of respondents rated 'staff support on the day'  

"The registeration process was very simple and straight forward. I had no stress getting to the right offices and the people I met were most helpful.." (2010 New Student Survey results).

Student intranet
To assist students in their studies and guide them during their time at Cranfield, we have gathered essential information in one place – our internal intranet. Here information from a ‘just arrived checklist’ and thesis submission guidance to accessing a variety of electronic resources including email, the library catalogue and your virtual learning environments. What’s more, it’ll lets students find out what’s going on socially across the campus.

Results from the 2010 Student Satisfaction Survey

"'It is solely a postgraduate university, that has links with industry which adds value to the quality of the taught course as well as providing opportunities for doing research within an industrial setting. This, combined with the good quality of the teaching staff and the diversity of the students provides for a very rich and rewarding experience, which will go with me when I leave Cranfield."

"Although the remote location of Cranfield can sometimes be a drawback, it also breeds a unique student atmosphere of dinners, parties, events etc, which are strengthened even more by the many nationalities represented. On an academic level, the professionalism of the staff and the excellent facilities make it a great place to study"

These views are just a snapshot gathered from our 2010 Student Satisfaction Survey. Over 900 students responded to the survey, giving us a great overview of how last year's students felt about our services.

Results were encouraging with diversity and the 'international flavour' of Cranfield very positively rated, with 85% agreeing that Cranfield has an 'inclusive culture'. One student summed it up: "The mixture of people from all around the world makes Cranfield a 'small planet' where you can find people from everywhere."