Leveraging CSAT Surveys: Paving the way for a remarkable back-to-school journey

As the academic world gears up for a new session, schools and universities nationwide are sharpening their pencils and embracing the challenge of refining their experience strategies. Enter “customer experience surveys” or CSAT surveys, an excellent way to achieve your goals for this academic year, and gauge what efforts to start, stop or continue to help your institution grow. Young minds have zero inhibition these days.

Let’s explore the benefits of experience scores in education, harnessing their true potential and using these scores to provide an excellent back-to-school experience! 

Fun fact: According to a survey by the Association for Institutional Research in 2021, 92% of higher education institutions in the United States reported using CSAT surveys to gather feedback from alumni and graduating students. 

How can feedback surveys help create a positive image for your school?

We’ve noticed that the big picture for most institutes regarding gathering student/staff feedback and what they stand to gain from such surveys is – Better application-to-admission yield rates.

Why conduct feedback surveys? 

To grow your application-to-admission ratio, we recommend getting a list of focus areas ready – your top motives. Here’s a quick starter list:

• Keeping faculty and teachers happy – teacher/student satisfaction.
• Evaluating online and offline learning programs for both students and teachers.
• Understand teaching styles as well as student learning styles.
• Improve parent engagement and involvement.
• Tracking habits, progress, and health – overall well-being.
• Improve overall school performance across various aspects to highlight success and attract more students.

Who is your survey audience? 

Your survey respondents need to be segmented into different cohorts of people, which will help keep your surveys more focused. There can be three primary audience groups – students, teachers/faculty members, and operations / non-teaching staff.  Let’s examine a few survey areas for each audience group:

Tailoring a superior student experience with Student feedback

Harnessing Alumni Insights and fostering engagement:

• Survey the most recent alumni on academic programs, career and placement services, extracurricular activities, and campus resources.
• Gauge alumni interest in engagement initiatives such as mentorship programs, guest lectures, or career guidance sessions.
• Design and implement programs that align with the current academic market, making changes to the curriculum, updating resources, and enhancing the overall student experience.

Empowering Soon-to-Graduate Students:

• Surveys soon-to-graduate students, focusing on their experiences with career services, job placement support, internships, and overall preparedness for the workforce.
• Identify areas where improvements can be made and implement enhancements to support students’ transition to the professional world.

Facilitating teaching and communication improvements with Faculty Feedback

• Collect anonymous feedback from students, on faculty members. Remove the fear of faculty retaliation from students’ minds, ensuring an open and honest assessment of their teaching methods, communication skills, responsiveness, and overall effectiveness.
• Recognize exemplary teaching practices and areas where additional support or professional development may be needed.
• Encourage open dialogue between students and faculty, facilitating communication channels to discuss and address concerns raised in the surveys.

Streamlining administrative processes with Operational Feedback

• Collect feedback from administrative staff to help identify inefficiencies and areas where processes can be streamlined.
• Assess support services that directly interact with students, faculty, and visitors daily, such as front desk personnel, library staff, and IT support. 
• Ensure optimal maintenance, repairs, or improvements of the physical infrastructure and facilities of the school.
• Create a safe and comfortable environment for students and staff, and foster a conducive atmosphere for learning and growth.

Survey Best Practices:

To ensure you make the most of the surveys you put out, here are some best practices to help you design surveys that yield the best responses: 

Our two cents

Survey isn’t new to this world, but very few organizations truly know how to reap the benefits. By tapping into the valuable feedback of alumni and graduating students, educational institutions can ignite a revolution of growth and improvement. 

Freshsurvey’s customizable survey templates and advanced capabilities, like skip logic and contact segmentation, can be used for incorporating relevant questions to gather feedback efficiently. Online CSAT surveys are key to transforming the educational landscape from turbocharging the curriculum to fueling career services. 

Are you ready to ignite change and refresh your back-to-school experience?