Some 86% of Maynooth University students would still choose to attend Maynooth if starting their university career again, according to a new survey.
The Irish Survey of Student Engagement is the first comprehensive and sophisticated national survey of students in all publicly funded higher education institutions in Ireland.
Maynooth University has welcomed the publication of the survey and highlighted its strong performance in a number of important measures.
With responses from almost 20,000 students it provides extensive information on many aspects of the students’ experiences in higher education.
Discussing the survey, President of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan, said, “This survey provides a useful assessment of the educational experience that we provide for our students. We are very pleased with our performance in this survey. We are always looking at new and insightful ways to engage with our students and this survey is one tool of many we will use to review and improve our students’ engagement and the outcomes they achieve. We look forward to discussing the outcomes from the survey with our students, faculty and staff to ensure we continue to provide the best undergraduate experience in Ireland.”
Maynooth University prides itself on providing an outstanding and challenging education, and as such, the university community are to be congratulated on the high scores achieved in “Overall Satisfaction”, “Academic Challenge”, “Higher Order Thinking” and “Supportive Learning Environment”.
Welcoming the publication of the national report the President of Maynooth University Student Union, Ben Finnegan said: “The survey gives a voice to all students on many aspects of their educational experience at the University. We particularly welcome the finding that 86% of the students would, if starting again, continue to choose Maynooth as their university. It, and the responses to other questions, confirms our view of the high quality of the education and academic supports provided by this university.”
Almost 1,000 students from Maynooth University participated in the online survey earlier this year.
Sample results from the 2014 Maynooth University survey
- 80% of all participating students selected good or excellent, when asked how they would evaluate their entire educational experience at Maynooth
- 74% of all participating students selected good or excellent, when asked how they would evaluate the quality of the academic advice they receive at Maynooth
- 79% of students rate very highly the support they receive to enable them to succeed academically,
- 67% of first year students have already enhanced their ability to make judgements about the value of information, arguments or methods,
The ISSE project is funded by the HEA and co-sponsored by the Higher Education Authority, Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI), the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The survey was developed in response to a key recommendation of the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 that every higher education institution should put in place a comprehensive anonymous student feedback system to inform institutional and programme/course development, as well as national policy.
ISSE is based on best practice internationally as developed by the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) since 2007 and the US National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) since 2000.