NSS overhaul shows ‘dangerous’ drift towards graduate outcomes

An NSS overhaul is well over due - it has resulted In lower academic standards and grade inflation. Of course students want greater feedback and outline answers to make life easier. The consumer agenda undermines academic integrity.

Perhaps the best thing would be to reduce the importance that is placed on the NSS. It's a mere indicator, at best, of how students view their university experience... and at that a flawed one as it doesn't ask the right questions. Nothing about "How well has my course prepared me for what I want to do next?" for example.

Getting rid of the NSS won't get rid of the consumerist agenda - that remains in place as long as we have student fees and Consumer Protection Legislation, and both of those are greater drivers of the consumerist agenda - and replacing it as a measure of 'quality' (it has only ever measured satisfaction) with Graduate Outcomes and Continuation is objectively worse. The former narrowly redefines the purposeof HE as helping one find a good job (and is a measure driven primarily by social background) and the latter will push universities to keep students on at all costs (thereby harming academic standards). The only people celebrating this change are the ones who want a reduced HE sector to be about jobs alone, and the ones who haven't engaged with the detail. There's plenty to dislike about the NSS; these changes don't make things better (any more than the introduction of the OfS has made things better).

"“If you want to look…at NSS data at course level [in an] institution…you need to have quite high sample size – if not a census of all students – in order to break it down at those levels,” she said." The lack of validity of the NSS is not about sample size - it is about the lack of its construct validity; there is *zero* evidence that it measures teaching quality nor efficacy. Repeat after me.... zero empirical evidence (see a recent meta analysis by Uttl et al., 2017). Sure, use it to measure student experience - I am sure Disneyland measures their visitors' experience in the same way as well. After all, learning in HE is all about keeping our customers happy and entertained like a visit to Disneyland and the movies, right? It is amazing that after decades of research in assessments and testing, some people still advocate the use of a measure that has no documented evidence of its validity. Makes me wonder if there is some hidden personal agenda or advantage for these people (e.g., holds a leadership or administrative post that relies on the continued use of NSS?). Uttl, B., White, C. A., & Gonzalez, D. W. (2017). Meta-analysis of faculty's teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 22-42.