Student engagement: The key to improving survey response rates

Abstract

Over the last decade, universities have paid increasing attention to stakeholder needs, which include the needs and expectations of students. To identify student needs and expectations, tertiary institutions have primarily employed the mechanism of evaluation surveys. In recent years, international research has shown falling survey response rates among students. Monash University, Australia, identified the issue of falling response rates as critical, particularly regarding the graduate destination survey and the course experience questionnaire distributed to Australian university graduates. To address the issue, Monash University adopted a strategy to increase student engagement. The strategy involved setting up a call centre for the purpose of contacting recent Monash University graduates who had not completed the graduate destination survey and course experience questionnaire surveys to explain the significance of the graduate feedback to the institution. This paper highlights the significance of enhancing the engagement of tertiary institutions with students and proposes enhancement of student engagement as one of the more effective and efficient ways of addressing declining student survey response rates.