S09E03: What does student satisfaction look like in 2025?
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What are the main questions we’re trying to answer about student satisfaction?
Hello and welcome to Accommodation Matters, where we talk about important and topical issues in student accommodation and the wider student experience. I'm Jenny Shaw and today we're talking about student satisfaction and how we measure it. Student surveys are a very familiar part of the landscape in student accommodation. Both of the codes for student accommodation management require students to be surveyed and we're all used to doing it. But what does good practice look like? What's our goal here? What really makes students happy? To answer these questions and many more, we have as usual an expert panel.
Hi, I'm Sarah Eid. I am Head of Insight at the Global Student Living Index.
Hi, I'm James Greenwood. I am head of residential life at the London School of Economics and
Political Science. Hi, I'm Paul Watson. I'm the Group Operations Director at United Students.
Brilliant. So let's get straight into it. Sarah, can you set the scene for us? Just uh a bit of historical context really. So GSL has loads of data, loads of years of data. So you can kind of look back on what's been happening over the the last few years. What have been the main drivers of student satisfaction during that time?
As you say, we've got a wealth of data going back, I think, well, two thousand and eight, so a long time. So I'll briefly do a whistle stop tour of that. But yeah, I guess one thing to say really is um satisfaction has improved over time. Obviously it was impacted by COVID, which I'll go into in a little bit more detail, but it's worth saying as well that the importance of accommodation to students has never been more important in their decision. it's no longer an afterthought, it's part of the process. And that's something we've seen in the data over the last sort of fifteen years, I suppose. I think looking back sort of two thousand and eight to two thousand and ten, it was very much focused around price.
Obviously students were relatively savvy about the condition and quality, but location was very much important and it was all about affordability. I think in two thousand and twelve, obviously with the tuition fees reform that was a bit of a turning point and we saw sort of a shift in expectations and more discerning customers, you know, who were looking more for value for money, I suppose, as opposed to just affordability. So looking for that quality and just the overall experience rather than just the price. I think in twenty thirteen private halls took the lead. So we've always closely monitored ratings for private accommodation against university accommodation. And they were very much sort of on a level playing field, but in twenty thirteen onwards we sort of saw private halls take over.
I think there was more of a demand for sort of ensuites and studio flats and things like that. And we actually saw sort of a trend towards less socialising and more about study. I think with the change in tuition fees, students were really wanting the the most out of their money and really focusing on the study um side of things. Um, twenty fifteen to twenty sixteen, I think Wi-Fi and technology became a staple requirement for students. So Wi-Fi had become ninety percent included in students' rent by that point. So it was really, you know, a basic factor that students expected rather than something they had to pay more for. Moving into twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, we saw well being become sort of in the spotlight and we added that to the set of questions that we asked students.
And we saw, you know, eight out of ten students saying that their accommodation impacted their well being in somewhat form, whether that was positive or negative, mostly positive, but in some cases negative and if it did have a negative impact, it could really impact their overall university experience. At the same time we did see a bit of a decline in sense of community as well and saw this sort of trend towards privacy and students wanting their own space. And I remember doing a presentation before COVID about it and saying, you know, students wanting more privacy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the main questions we’re trying to answer about student satisfaction?
0:05–5:40
2
How have the drivers of student satisfaction changed from 2008 to the present?
5:40–10:49
3
What impact did COVID‑19 have on accommodation satisfaction and how did the sector recover?
10:49–15:35
4
Why are wellbeing, technology and value‑for‑money now the top factors for students?
15:35–20:35
5
What will Generation Alpha expect from student accommodation in 2025?
20:35–24:57
6
How are universities and PBSA providers using AI and data to predict student needs?
24:57–29:32
7
What practical tip can accommodation teams implement today to boost student satisfaction?
29:32–34:17
8
How do we measure success and know we’re delivering a ‘home for success’?
34:17–38:09