May 2023 – Initial TEI Consultation

The annual Common Awards Student Survey (CASS) allows students to provide feedback on their academic experience (on areas including learning and teaching, study support, learning communities and student voice). It was launched in 2017 and has run every year since, in a series of three-year cycles.

The survey plays a number of roles:

• It provides necessary data for feeding back to the Church of England and to the University on the overall levels of student satisfaction across all TEIs, which is important as both parties monitor the health of the partnership.
• It has allowed the Common Awards team to monitor the broad impact of enhancements to provision across the partnership, and has prompted useful discussions with particular TEIs where there has been evidence of dissatisfaction in specific areas.
• It has provided TEIs with an additional source of data that, alongside the data they gather themselves, can provide either useful reassurance or prompts for further investigation.

Since the introduction of the CASS the University has received feedback from both TEI staff and students in relation to the purpose of the survey, the appropriateness of individual questions and the helpfulness of the data. In light of this feedback it was decided that it would be a good time to reconstitute the Working Group to undertake a thorough review of the CASS in preparation for the next three-year cycle, which commences in 2024. Over the coming weeks and months, the Group will review the questions and the administrative processes supporting the CASS, in consultation with TEIs. 

At this early stage of the review process, the Working Group hopes to gather initial thoughts from TEI staff members. We would therefore be grateful if you could provide any feedback you have using the consultation form by 2nd June 2023.