Online surveys: providing actionable insights into student expectations and support needs

A national pilot is giving universities new insight into what students need before they even arrive on campus. The pre-arrival questionnaire (PAQ), delivered using Jisc online surveys, is helping institutions better understand incoming students and identify opportunities to improve their experience.

The pilot gathered responses from undergraduates joining 15 higher education institutions across England. Students were asked about their previous learning experiences and expectations, as well as concerns about wellbeing and financial pressures, building a richer picture of the factors that can shape their transition into higher education.

Delivered by Advance HE in partnership with the University of East London and Jisc, and funded by the Office for Students through its Equality in Higher Education Innovation Fund, the project aims to improve equality of opportunity for students from all backgrounds.

Having previously partnered with Jisc for surveys including its Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) and Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES), Advance HE benefited from the capabilities of Jisc online surveys, which go beyond the limitations of conventional subscription-based survey platforms.

Dr Thandi Gilder, researcher at Advance HE, said:

“The PAQ is a very complex and detailed survey, with hundreds of questions and lots of space for open text comments – much more than a standard survey. There are lots of dependencies, so users are routed through to different questions based on their answers. It’s the most complicated dataset I’ve ever worked on.”

“PTES and PRES have shown how much the sector gains from robust, comparable survey data. The PAQ extends that to the point before students even arrive, and the response from institutions shows how much this evidence was needed. Jisc has been a helpful and trusted partner throughout”

Building the survey

The team at Advance HE found working with Jisc’s specialists to build the survey and ensure the data met its objectives was invaluable. Jisc collaborated closely with the project leaders to build the survey, to meet the project’s aims of improving equality of opportunity by enabling earlier, more targeted and informed support for students from all backgrounds.

The ability to intelligently output the data to provide meaningful and actionable insight was just as important as the depth and quality of the question set. The Jisc team led on this aspect of the project, cleaning and aggregating the data before it was sent to the team at Advance HE for analysis.

Crucially, the data meant participating providers could benchmark their results against the wider pilot group and disaggregate findings by student characteristics such as age, disability status, commuter status and route of entry.

Covering a wide range of topics including wellbeing, mental health, loneliness, belonging and previous learning experiences, the PAQ provided a wealth of information that is already being used to move from analysis to action.

Dr Thandi Gilder said:

“The dataset was huge, but the outputs that come out of Jisc were straightforward to understand. It’s the first time we have had this kind of information on this scale.”

Individual insight, sector-wide impact

In parallel with participating institutions acting on their own findings from the survey by tailoring onboarding and induction based on cohort needs, the PAQ is already having a wider impact.

The first in a series of planned annual conferences has been held for participating institutions to share experiences, and a community of practice is developing through a new Advance HE platform, enabling conversations around challenges and good practice.

Jisc continues to support the project team as PAQ moves beyond the pilot and extends its reach while acting upon the valuable information it has yielded - for example, on students’ reliance on handwritten notes over digital devices, access to libraries and digital resources, and their use of AI. This data is being used to shape a response to the transition gap between prior learning and higher education expectations.

Dr Thandi Gilder added:

“I’ve used competitors and they just did what they needed to do but Jisc has gone far beyond that. Participants said that the technology side was a breeze. For us, it was a combination of the technology being great, but also having that personal relationship and collaboration with real people. It's just been a really good experience.”

Find out more

Book now for Data Matters 2027 where Dr Thandiwe Gilder is speaking with colleagues from University of East London, Advance HE and Jisc about how the first national pilot of the pre arrival questionnaire (PAQ) is helping to shape how the sector understands student needs.

We’re also offering a free trial of online surveys to explore the platform and decide whether it is suitable for you or your organisation.

You can create surveys, share them with respondents, collect responses and try many of the features available in online surveys. Some limits and feature restrictions apply during the trial.