How do you use student feedback to improve enrollment management?

Enrollment management is the process of attracting, enrolling, retaining, and graduating students who meet the academic and strategic goals of an institution. It involves coordinating various functions such as marketing, admissions, financial aid, academic advising, student services, and alumni relations. One of the key factors that influences enrollment management is student satisfaction and engagement, which reflect how well the institution meets the needs and expectations of its students. In this article, we will explore how to measure student satisfaction and engagement, and how to use the data to inform and enhance enrollment management strategies.

1 Why measure student satisfaction and engagement?

Student satisfaction and engagement are important indicators of the quality and effectiveness of an institution's educational programs and services. They also affect student retention, completion, and loyalty, which in turn impact the institution's reputation, ranking, and revenue. By measuring student satisfaction and engagement, an institution can identify its strengths and weaknesses, benchmark its performance against peers and competitors, and monitor the impact of its initiatives and interventions. Measuring student satisfaction and engagement also helps an institution to demonstrate its accountability and responsiveness to its stakeholders, such as students, parents, faculty, staff, accreditors, and funders.

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Arthur Ortiz

Chief Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement Officer (Chief SPACE Officer) - UST/Leadership Houston, Chair-Elect/Institute for Higher Education/Born Global Houston Chapter Lead/Emotional Intelligence Coach
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I agree and will add an additional angle. Particularly at smaller and mid-sized universities, it will can become more challenging to secure student engagement if an institution has a problem with employee, faculty and staff, engagement. The employee morale at many institutions, as mentioned in many re ent surveys and articles, is at an all-time low in higher education. Disengaged university employees have a negative impact on student retention and engagement. While there may not be a one to one correlation, there is impact - perhaps even multiplicative. Kudos for properly citing student engagement measurement as a need. I think the same measurement should be extended to university employees.

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Rajiv Balakrishnan

Admission Manager at GIBS Business School
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Utilizing student feedback as a compass, I've fine-tuned enrollment strategies, addressing concerns and tailoring experiences for a more student-centric approach. In my experience, it's a dynamic tool driving continuous improvement in enrollment management.

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2 How to measure student satisfaction and engagement?

There are various methods and tools to measure student satisfaction and engagement, depending on the purpose, scope, and context of the assessment. Some of the common methods include surveys, focus groups, interviews, observations, and analytics. Surveys are the most widely used method, as they can collect quantitative and qualitative data from a large and representative sample of students. Some of the well-known surveys that measure student satisfaction and engagement are the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), and the Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS). These surveys typically ask students to rate their perceptions and experiences of various aspects of their institution, such as academic quality, teaching, learning, support, facilities, resources, diversity, and community.

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LaVada R. Rice, EdD
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I would suggest researching the students who withdrew from the academy. Reviewing the data that pertains to drop out, retention, grades, etc. Inviting those students to the focus group or interviews, etc. The remaining students are apparently satisfied and engagement at their level of satisfaction and engagement.

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Tiauna Rucker

Senior Assistant Director of Financial Aid, University of Missouri- St. Louis
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It is always important to zoom in on student need. Institutions are recognizing that students are needing more than just their educational needs being met. Finances, homelessness, traumas, mental and physical health is showing prevalence. Being resourceful to meet those needs is the key to retention.

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3 How to analyze and interpret student feedback data?

Once the data is collected, it needs to be analyzed and interpreted to generate meaningful and actionable insights. The analysis and interpretation of student feedback data can involve various steps, such as cleaning, coding, categorizing, summarizing, comparing, correlating, and visualizing the data. The analysis and interpretation of student feedback data should also consider the validity, reliability, and limitations of the data, such as sampling errors, response biases, measurement errors, and contextual factors. The analysis and interpretation of student feedback data should also align with the goals and objectives of the assessment, and address the relevant questions and issues that the institution wants to answer and solve.

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4 How to use student feedback data to improve enrollment management?

The ultimate goal of measuring student satisfaction and engagement is to use the data to improve enrollment management. By using the data to inform and evaluate the institution's policies, practices, and programs that affect student recruitment, retention, and success, the institution can identify and target the most satisfied and engaged segments and markets. Additionally, it can develop and communicate its value proposition, enhance and differentiate its academic offerings, improve teaching and learning methods, optimize support services to meet student needs, create a culture that promotes involvement and belonging, and recognize student achievements. All of this can be accomplished by leveraging the data obtained from measuring student satisfaction and engagement.

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Adam Herman

Associate Dean @ Tufts University's Fletcher School | Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Leader | Higher Education
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Individual academic units may also use program-level or unit-level data and input to make decisions related to student engagement and initiatives. For example, a graduate program in business — a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program — may survey students on career services on offer, elective courses students may wish to enroll in to maintain their competitiveness in the job market, or programming students may wish to see from the corporate or alumni community. Student government, or representative student associations, may also play a role in collecting, analyzing, aggregating, and sharing student feedback with leaders and administrators in a given academic unit.

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5 How to communicate and share student feedback data?

The last step of using student feedback data to improve enrollment management is to communicate and share the data with the relevant audiences and stakeholders. This can help to increase the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the data, as well as to solicit feedback, suggestions, and collaboration from the stakeholders. The communication and sharing of student feedback data can be done through various channels and formats, such as reports, dashboards, presentations, newsletters, websites, social media, forums, and events. The communication and sharing of student feedback data should also be tailored to the needs and interests of the stakeholders, such as highlighting the key findings, implications, recommendations, and actions for each stakeholder group.

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Adam Herman

Associate Dean @ Tufts University's Fletcher School | Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Leader | Higher Education
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For initiatives, programs and services that are responsive to specific student feedback, it can be helpful to highlight the changes for that population. For example, if public relations or journalism students ask for more opportunities for career and professional discovery, a school of journalism and media could highlight a multi-day off-campus career trek that connects current students with alumni working in media and journalism organizations.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How do you use student feedback to improve enrollment management?

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1 Why measure student satisfaction and engagement?

2 How to measure student satisfaction and engagement?

3 How to analyze and interpret student feedback data?

4 How to use student feedback data to improve enrollment management?

5 How to communicate and share student feedback data?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Enrollment Management

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