QILT: Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching - Student Experience Survey 2021
The Student Experience Survey (SES) is the only comprehensive survey of current higher education students in Australia. It focuses on aspects of the student experience that are measurable, linked with learning and development outcomes, and potentially able to be influenced by higher education institutions. Information collected in the SES helps higher education institutions and the government improve teaching and learning outcomes for students.
The higher education sector faced substantial challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. There was a sharp reduction in student ratings of their educational experience in 2020. Student ratings have improved in 2021, as institutions and students have adapted to the changing teaching and learning environment. For example, undergraduate student ratings of the quality of the entire educational experience increased four percentage points from 69 per cent in 2020 to 73 per cent in 2021. This is not, however, a full recovery to the 78 per cent to 80 per cent range observed since the survey was first conducted on a national basis up to 2019.