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Tēnā tātou e te whānau
Tuatahi, e mihi kau ake ana ki a koutou katoa mō tō kaha ūnga ki ngā tikanga o Manaakitia Te Rito.
Our key indicator of student engagement, the Student Net Promoter Score (NPS), has recorded its best-ever result of 23 for returning students this semester.
This beats the previous record result of 19 set last semester as the highest student NPS and is a testament to your efforts as we head into final preparations for our virtual EER in 10 days' time.
This is a great outcome, demonstrating better outcomes for our tauira and further continuing all the gains we’ve seen during 2019.
In this semester’s biannual survey, our tauira have said we’ve responded well to the COVID-19 crisis, especially around communication. Lifting the quality of communication has had the added benefit of lifting the perceptions of almost every metric in the survey – when our tauira understand our decisions, they’re more likely to think favourably about them.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, positivity for choosing to study at Unitec is at an all-time high, with one respondent saying: “I knew it was the right choice for me to go back to study and the way I’m enjoying the course at the moment and the way I felt at the pōwhiri really solidified that.”
Key findings include:
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Priority Groups are up: Every priority group is up on last year’s semester 2 result, with Māori students in particular giving a high NPS this time around. |
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All Schools have a positive NPS: For the first time ever, all Schools have a positive NPS. Bridgepoint has narrowly been nudged as the top-performing School by Applied Business, but most notable are the large increases for Computing, Electrical & Applied Technology and Trades & Services. The gap between the highest and lowest performing Schools continues to narrow. |
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COVID-19 communication well received: Nearly 80% of students were satisfied with Unitec’s overall communication in response to COVID-19. Many appreciated being proactively contacted to see if they required assistance, signalling the success of the Learner Outreach Project. |
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A lift in I See Me metrics: More than two thirds of students said Unitec has a learning style that suits them, up from just over half last semester, while 64% said there are learning practices that are culturally familiar to Māori and Pacific, up from 59%. |
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Increased satisfaction with teaching and tutoring: 42% of students are extremely satisfied with the quality of our teaching and tutoring, up 5% on last semester. Students cited the responsiveness and support of their teachers, saying they went above and beyond to help them in all aspects of their lives. |
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Pastoral care rated highly: Satisfaction with student support services on offer is high, along with ease of access to services. Library Knowledge Specialists, Te Puna and Pacific Centre staff and Academic Development Lecturers scored particularly well. Work needs to be done on increasing awareness of our support services as usage has declined this year, due to COVID-19. |
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The survey results are positive, but there are still areas that need ongoing focus and attention. We’ve provided further recommendations for continuous improvement here, along with the full set of results (scroll down to the bottom link on the page).
The challenges we’ve come up against this year are unprecedented and we’ve had to manage them in both our professional and personal lives. It’s clear tauira are struggling more to create social connections compared to non-COVID-19 times, and there’s a risk that some could feel more isolated than normal. There’s also concern about the impact that COVID-19 will have on study outcomes. We should all be sensitive to this, extend and promote the pastoral and academic support networks we have in place and continue to exercise Kaitiakitanga in everything we do.
Anei anō te mihi nui ki a koutou mo te mahi kotahi, mo te ngākau māhaki me tō kaha ki te manaaki I a tātou tauira.
Ngā mihi
Glenn Mckay
Te Tumu / Executive Director - Student Success
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