Student Surveys and Feedback / Complaints

Early Experience Survey - Autumn

• This survey targets students starting college for the first time and those returning to progress their studies
• The survey aims to find out about student experiences applying for a course, the induction and settling in during the early weeks

National Student Survey (NSS) - Spring

• This survey targets students in their final year studying HNDs and Degrees, 3^rd year and 4^th year, asking about their entire experience whilst studying with UHI
• NSS scores impact on how future students and employers view the quality of UHI
• Evidence shows that the more people who complete a survey the higher the satisfaction rating – this particularly affects UHI, as we have small numbers compared to other universities and a few negative comments can have a huge impact on the final results
• UHI offer a £10 Amazon voucher to students who complete this survey

Learner Survey - Spring

• Moray College survey for every student to have their say, those on full-time and part-time courses, or a Modern Apprenticeship or Schools Programme/Senior phase course
• The results are used to inform subject area self-evaluation reviews, involving staff, student reps and employers
• Areas to increase understanding – recognising HISA and their work, and how the college embeds awareness of environmental ‘green’ issues, social issues and ethical responsibility into the student experience
• Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Student Satisfaction and Engagement Survey – 10 short questions to gain an overview of student opinion across Scotland – this is included in the Moray College Learner Survey

Why complete surveys?

• It’s an opportunity to give your opinion about your experience at college
• Survey results are reviewed by subject teams, the Senior Management Team, the Board of Management, and contribute to the college’s Education Scotland Evaluation - ‘How good is our College?’
• Ideas are considered and actions taken, surveys are a route to bring about change
• If you are unhappy about something, don’t save it up for a survey, tell someone now!
• The more students to respond to the survey the more accurate the results will be to reflect student opinion
• When completing a Moray College survey you can enter a prize draw to win Amazon vouchers

How you can help

If you have ideas to help the college reach students and encourage completion of surveys, or how we could do more to feedback the results and actions of the surveys to inform students of the impact of their opinions, please contact mcqualityunit.moray@uhi.ac.uk or your HISA rep.

Please note - all survey feedback is anonymous.

Feedback and Complaints

Depending what the complaint is about, usually your first contact would be your lecturer or Student Services. If this does not resolve the issue, you can escalate it by speaking to your Learning Development Worker or Personal Academic Tutor. If that does not help speak to the Manager of the relevant support or subject area – if you’re not sure who that is, ask Student Services staff who will look up details for you. If you are still unable to resolve the issue, there are other methods to complain.

• You can Submit Complaints and Suggestions
• A copy of the college’s Complaints and Suggestions procedure is available Publications and Policies section of the website, page 2 provides details of what you can or can’t complaint about
• The UHI’s Red Button
• Both the Complaints and Suggestions page and UHI’s Red Button have tiles on the student portal MyDay
• The Student Support area on the website may be able to answer your query – support services, fees/finance, guidance etc

Please remember, all these facilities are also for positive feedback, it is good to know when the college is doing something well or what you like, so that we don’t change it!

Advice

• If you’re not happy about something, don’t leave it too long to talk to someone – problems can grow over time – try and sort it out early on, particularly if it’s affecting your studies – let us know if there’s an issue, this will help the college help you keep your studies on track.
• Read the small print – you may find the answers are in the small print, unfortunately many complaints relate to aspects that students have not read in our policies, handbooks or forms they have signed, e.g. fee implications
• Find out more about college policies in the , pages 45-48, in the Student Life area of the college website
• Consider how you complain – what do you want to tell us? How can we resolve the issue? What would make you happy?

What to expect

The college operates within the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman (SPSO) complaint guidelines, so if you complain to the college we follow this system:

• Stage 1 - simple, frontline complaints, responded to within 5 working days.  If the college is unable to resolve the complaint within 5 working days, the timescale can be extended to 10 days - beyond 10 working days the complaint is escalated to Stage 2.
• Stage 2 - complex complaints that require thorough investigation, the college will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 3 working days, advising that following SPSO rules we are allowed up to 20 working days to investigate and respond to the complaint.
• If after Stage 2 the complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily, the next step is to contact the SPSO to appeal the outcome.

Complaints Procedure - Summary

You are unhappy about something and wish to complain

Stage 1

• Frontline resolution – easy to resolve issues – usually up to 5 working days to respond
• Speak to a member of staff within the department you are complaining about, e.g. Lecturer, Learning Development Worker (FE), Personal Academic Tutor (HE) or Student Services
• If staff are unable to resolve your issue, you can speak to the manager for the relevant support or subject area – Student Services staff will help locate their name

Stage 2

• Investigation required – complex complaints – usually up to 20 working days to respond
• If the issue is not resolved at stage 1 contact the college with your complaint by letter, phone, e-mail direct to comments.suggestions.moray@uhi.ac.uk or website submission via the college’s Complaints and Suggestions form, or the UHI Redbutton
• Your issue may be too complex for stage 1 of the process and be automatically escalated to stage 2 – each complaint is reviewed on an individual basis

Right of Appeal

• If dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you may contact SPSO, or if assessment-related contact SQA or the relevant awarding body
• If in relation to a SQA regulated course, and the SQA response is unsatisfactory, you may also contact SQA Accreditation