Microsurveys as a tool for Students' Unions
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An essential task for educational institutions today is to give the Students’ Union more responsibility and thereby increase the well-being of the study environments on the campus. This applies to both post-secondary schools, upper secondary education, and higher education. How can the institution's management contribute to the Students’ Union gaining greater and more important influence, and thus becoming an asset for the institution? Here in the article, we will come up with our suggestions and explain the importance of lifting the Students’ Union's responsibilities.
Most institutions find it difficult to make their SU’s relevant. The institutions have a hard time getting them to function optimally. And the SU finds it difficult to talk through to the functioning management, and they lack concrete data as evidence for relevant claims about the issues in the study environment or the like. Although the SU is already responsible for the student's well-being and conducts, for example, class visits with a view to preparing lists of issues, there is a lack of a system and possible anonymisation. It is quite simply a few of the students who would raise their hand and seriously answer the question of how they thrive in the study environment, or whether they are satisfied with the course of study and make relevant recommendations for what works well or can be improved.
In the near future, we will be releasing a new podcast called “StudentPulse Podcast”. In the first section, Gorm interviews Tjalfe Löwe, who is the Students’ Union chairman for the maritime educations at SIMAC. Here, Tjalfe mentions the need for a technological solution.
“The members of the Students’ Union have to go out and ask their classmates what problems they have at the school. But some of them neglect it. They are not doing what they are supposed to. This means that we are without knowledge in some areas. And that's a problem, because if I do not know what the problem is, then I can not solve it either.”
Tjalfe Löwe
Students’ Union chairman for the maritime educations at SIMAC
The solution is to empower the SU to have more influence and be an asset to the institution. Providing the SUs with relevant tools that make it easier to obtain data ensures a faster process from problem to solution. The SU finds it easier to receive relevant information among the students because they are already at eye level with the other students. Part of the solution is digital. StudentPulse is a digital tool that allows you to obtain crucial information. By sending out the small questionnaires at given times during the study period, more students are given the opportunity to speak, and they are thus also given a greater incentive to have their possible issues concerning the study period presented.
In the previously mentioned StudentPulse Podcast, the SU chairman Tjalfe says that the educations, due to Covid-19, have had a number of students who have dropped out or demotivated. The Students’ Union's tasks range widely, but Tjalfe emphasizes that one of the tasks is to try to get the demotivated students back on track, so that they do not end up dropping out completely.
An advantage of giving the SU more responsibility is that it provides breathing room in the management's area of responsibility. The management gets a SU with young people who have evidence for their claims and can provide a relevant overview and insight into the students' well-being and satisfaction. The voices of the young students are heard and it gives involved and motivated students. The sense of responsibility that comes with the assignment gives the students an incentive to do more and act on it. This means that the institutional management, to a greater extent, experiences that the students on their own take the initiative for changes that the management does not have to implement itself. This gives the management a free and efficient workforce and it eliminates some of the previous resources used in this area.
“The reason we have chosen StudentPulse is because we need a setup that continuously adjusts to the context of our students' journey.
To support them the best way we need their honest inputs right here, right now in an easy understandable way and StudentPulse gives us that".
Helle Hansen
Student Engagement & Mentoring, Flemming Efterskole
StudentPulse is a digital tool that, among other things, contributes to collecting data in specific periods of the education. With the help of regular microsurveys, one can obtain expressive data via small questionnaires about the students' satisfaction and well-being during the study programmes. By giving this tool to the Students’ Union, they are given greater responsibility and have the opportunity to concretize relevant issues. The advantage of StudentPulse as a tool is that the measurements are put into systems, and the questionnaires can be sent out at selected times of the course/semester. With StudentPulse as a tool, you get a more significant opportunity to discover the problems before they become unsolvable.
If you want to read more about StudentPulse as a tool for the Students’ Union, click here.
