STA Student Handbook (Taught Programmes) 2025/26

Student surveys

Your views are important to the School of the Arts and Queen Mary. There are a variety of ways in which you can tell us what you think and share your ideas for improvements

Module Experience Surveys

In the last few weeks of semester you will receive an email with link to complete a Module Experience Survey for each module. This is your chance to anonymously rate and comment on the module, its content, and how it was taught. Your teachers may give you time in class to complete your survey, but you can complete it at any time

All responses are anonymous. Once the survey has closed the data is collated and reports are sent back to the School, with a breakdown of the average response on each rating question, and with all the written comments included, but without any names or numbers attached.  These are then seen by the module organisers so that they can use the feedback to make improvements to the module for next time. Any very poor ratings are flagged up at Department and School Level, so that any problems can be discussed at Department meeting or at the STA Education Committee and actions can be taken.

Survey etiquette. Remember that what you enter on your module experience surveys is anonymous. There are some guidelines you should bear in mind:-

  • Outline as clearly as possible what you thought was best about the module and teaching, and how the module could be improved/developed, along with any other comments you have;
  • Don't use language which is inappropriate, offensive or abusive. Forms containing such language will be immediately disregarded from the evaluation process.
National Student Survey (NSS)

All final-year undergraduate students at UK institutions take part in the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is a nationally recognised annual survey of mostly final-year undergraduates in the UK. The survey gives you an opportunity to give your opinions on what you liked about your time at Queen Mary as well as things that you feel could have been improved.  

If you are a finalist, you will usually be contacted by email early in the spring term. Please do complete the NSS, and fill it in honestly. 

The NSS results are made publicly available to help prospective students make informed decisions of where and what to study. Queen Mary and the Students’ Union will also use the data to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses to help effect change and bring about enhancements to improve the student experience for future generations of students. 

Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES)

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) enables higher education institution to gather important information about the experience of any taught postgraduate student on a Masters, Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma course. PTES also considers students’ motivations for taking their programme and – where relevant – their experience of undertaking a dissertation or major project.