1. NUS Insight
Market Research for our Students’ Union members

2. NUS Insight
The Insight Team at NUS Services provides bespoke student research and insight to Students’ Unions as well as commercial clients and third sector clients.
An excellent track record in providing research of all shapes and sizes.
The exclusive focus on students means that NUS Services understand the student sector and their influencers better than anyone.
A team of experienced researchers dedicated to the student movement, we are the experts in students.

3. Why NUS Insight….?
Between the team, over 30 years’ experience in research and insight
Expertise in student lives and techniques to research them
Expertise in Strategic Review research
Expertise in a variety of research methods including concept testing, student journeys and student experience
Collaborative approach
Tailored solutions

4. Where we sit within NUS Services

5. NUS Insight – meet the team

6. We offer a range of research services to our members…
…to discover actionable insight
How to Guides
Commercial Services Review
Co-creation
Impact Evaluation
Engagement Research
Concept Testing
Customer satisfaction
Strategic Review
Customer journeys
How to Guides – Accessible and simple to follow
Co-creation – a qualitative technique to offer better insight and move towards creating and testing solutions in a live situation
Concept testing – e.g. latest brand concepts for NUS Extra card – focus groups to explore appeal
Strategic reviews – links with SSU
Customer journeys – exploring the attitudes and behaviours of students
Ethnography – lifestyle and more based on participant observation
Students’ Say Omnibus – monthly survey to students on our database
Customer satisfaction – e.g. students satisfaction with NUS extra card and members satisfaction/feedback on NUS
Students’ Say Omnibus
Ethnography
Focus groups

7. What we know… What’s important to students and what are students doing with their time
Things that are top of mind for students are…
Popular daytime social venues
Popular evening social venues
Home/friend’s home
55%
Home/friend’s home
64%
42% - My course
33% - Money & finances
SU café/canteen
31%
Pub/bar drinks
30%
High St. coffee
29%
Pub/bar meal
28%
Night club
25%
What’s missing…
What’s missing…
How students are spending their time
Non-alcoholic events/activities
Late night cafes
Music venues
Film nights
Social/common areas
Coffee shops
Gym/exercise classes
More clubs & societies
Gaming
On internet/computer
84%
Meeting friends
76%
SU’s seem to have a fairly accurate picture of where students are socialising mentioning home/friend’s home followed by SU café then high street coffee shops during the day and home/friend’s home followed by local pubs/bars for a drink followed by a meal and then night clubs and during the evening
Watching TV/films
75%
Hot off the press!
SISM is a yearly report that we conduct with students and SUs each year. It allows to gain an understanding of what’s going on for students each year, and what’s important to them. We can also track certain questions to allow us to highlight key trends
B1. Which of the following do you do in your spare time? Please select all that apply
Base: 4459 Respondents
B3. Using the list below, please tell us your top five things that are on your mind whilst at university? Please rank your top five where 1 is the top thing on your mind at college or university, 2 is second to top and so on.
Base: 3447 respondents Balance: no response
B4a. And looking at the following please rank them in order of importance to you, where 1= most important and 6=least important
Base: 4336 Respondents
B4. During term time where do you generally go to socialise during the daytime? Please select as many as apply
Base: 4452 respondents Balance: no response
B6. Thinking about all of the social activities available to you during the daytime, is there anything missing?
B7. During term time where do you generally go to socialise during the evening/night-time? Please select as many as apply
Base: 4441 respondents Balance: no response
B8. Thinking about all of the social activities available to you during the evening/night-time, is there anything missing?
B12. Now thinking about friendship groups, which of these groups of people do you feel the closest to? Please select one answer
Base: 2700 Respondents
Image credits: Mortor board created by PJ Souders from the Noun Project. Sun in public domain. Moon in public domain.
Shopping
53%
Participation in extracurricular activities
Sports clubs/teams
35%
What’s most important
Course/academic societies
29%
Fun/special interest societies
28%
36% - Feeling like I am succeeding on my course
41% - High quality teaching
Volunteering
22%
None of these
28%
*only showing those chosen by 9% or more

8. What we know… Motivations & Experiences at University or College
What’s important when choosing an institution
What’s important to students in order to succeed in life… 1
Course
87%
Learning life skills
Learning to work well with others
76%
77%
87%
86% 2
On the whole students’ unions seem to underestimate how important these elements are to their students
*SU estimates in grey boxes
Institution
80% 3
Accommodation
46%
82%
Getting a good degree 82%
82% 12 SU
23%
Satisfaction now at institution
Applying knowledge from my degree to my career 80%
Gaining more confidence in meeting people & socialising 80%
Gaining work experience 80%
72%
66%
67% 1
Course
88% 2
Institution
87%
80% 3
Accommodation
64%
Students
C1. Thinking back to before you became a student, how important, if at all, were the following when choosing a university / college?
Base: Course: 4362, Institution: 4335, Accommodation: 4247, SU: Balance no response.
C2. And now that you’re at university or college, how satisfied are you, if at all, with the following elements of your university / college experience?
Base: Course: 4351, Institution: 4345, Accommodation: 4285, SU: Balance no response.
C3. And still thinking about your time at university or college, please indicate how far you agree or disagree with each statements (success & risk statements).
Base: Balance no response.
Students’ unions
B4. I’m now going to read out a list of statements that can be associated with student success and risk, and I’d like you to tell me approximately, what percentage of your students you think would agree with each one.
Base: 42 Respondents
B5. Finally for this section, I have another bank of statements, again, that can be associated with student success or risk and I’d like you to tell me approximately, what percentage of your students you think would agree with each one.
Base: 42 Respondents.
Image credits
Happy face created by Tobias F. Wolf from the Noun Project 4 SU
56%
Students generally seem happy with their choices
Students’ unions seem to slightly underestimate the happiness of their students!
*SU estimates in grey boxes
88% - Happy with chosen institution
84% - Doing my course is one of best decisions ever made
82% - I feel able to achieve my full potential on my course
76% - There is good morale amongst students on my course
78%
70%
72%
72%

9. What we know… Student Finances
How students are funding themselves
Average weekly spend
Parents/Family
51%
Weekly food
£24.32
Student loan
42%
52%
Work 17+hours a week
Travel
£17.35
Savings
33%
Clothes
£15.61
Paid work (term time)
28%
Course books
£14.26
Paid work (holidays)
20%
76%
Eating out
£13.25
Work 17+hours a week
Course equipment
£12.20
Bars/pubs/clubs
£11.21
Reasons for working
Type of job held during term time
D1. Which, if any of the following, are your main sources of income? Please select as many as are applicable. Please remember your responses are entirely confidential.
Base: 4420 respondents Balance: no response
D2. You told us paid work in term time is a source of income for you. Approximately how many hours a week on average do you work during term time? Please select one option only.
Base: 921 respondents Balance: don’t rely upon paid work in term time for a source of income
D3. And what type of job do you have during term time?
Base: 1250 respondents
D4. You told us paid work in the holidays is a source of income for you. How many hours a week on average do you work during the holidays? Please select one option only
Base: 976 respondents Balance: Don’t rely upon paid work in holidays as a source of income
D6 Which, if any, of the following reasons best describes why you have a job? Please select one option only
Base: 1072 respondents Balance: Don’t rely upon paid work for a source of income
D7. Now thinking about what you spend your money on, how much is your weekly average spend on the following items:
Base: 4465 for all except ‘other’: Balance no response.
Image credits:
Money created by Piger from the Noun Project
Alcohol
£10.88
37% job not related to future career
30% job not related but offers transferable skills
10% job related to future career
Accommodation/food/bills
13%
Other food
£10.64
Socialising
12%
Non-alcoholic
£9.04
Saving for future
11%
CV/work experience
11%

10. What we know… Students’ Union Facilities
Students’ union facilities used
*all the time/often/sometimes
Average weekly spend
Overall satisfaction with SU facilities
Coffee shop
52%
£8.17
Students’ unions have reported a move away from bar usage to more coffee shop usage
Café/canteen
45%
£9.40
Night club
43%
£12.69
Launderette
26%
£8.56
Convenience store
25%
£10.07
Games/amusements
24%
£10.17
Online students’ union facilities used
*all the time/often/sometimes
Average weekly spend
Students
E1. How often do you use the following facilities at your students’ union?
Base: 4465 except for ‘other’: Balance no response.
E3. How often do you use the following online facilities at your students’ union?
Base: See chart. Balance no response.
E5. On average, how much do you spend per week on the following students’ union facilities?
Base: coffee shop: 2011, café/canteen: 2459, night club: 902, launderette: 943, convenience store: 1881, Games/amusements: 559 Respondents Balance: No response and not used facility
E6. And so taking into account all of the aspects of the Students’ union that you have just been thinking about, overall how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the Students’ union facilities?
Base: 4459 respondents Balance: no response
Students’ Unions
3. In your opinion, how has this (usage of students union facilities) changed over the past 3 years at your union?
Base: 42
Image credits:
Online/laptop created by Ahmend Elzahra from the Noun Project
Online loyalty/discounts
30% NA
Print shop
26%
£8.24
Online clubs/societies
21% NA
21%
£12.80
Online shop
£10.59
Online tickets
20%

11. What we know… Relationship with the Students’ Union
Half or more agree their students’ union…
Areas SUs should focus on in order to improve
…improves the student experience
59%
91%
NUS extra
29%
…meets the needs of the students
57%
55%
Employment agency
10%
…understands the students
54%
79%
Catering 7%
…keeps up with the modern student
53%
60%
Extracurricular activities 6%
Students are well informed about their SU
50%
45% 6%
Retail trade
Areas for improvement…
*only showing those chosen by 6% or more
36%
57%
…the SU is better than others I know of
81% students’ unions mentioned helping improve student employability as a challenge for them this past year
…the SU is an exciting place to be
43%
74%
Students
F1. Here are a number of statements regarding university / college and the Students’ union. Please confirm how
strongly you agree or disagree with each statement
Base: improves experience: 4397, meets students needs: 4404, understands students: 4398, keeps up with modern student: 4396, students are well informed about their SU: 4399, SU is better than others: 4399, SU is an exciting place to be: 4395, SU is central to students’ lives: Balance no response.
F2. And which, if any, of the below would you focus on to improve your students’ union?
Base: 4116 respondents Balance: no response
Students’ unions
A9. I’m going to read out a number of statements regarding university / college and the Students’ Union. Please confirm how strongly you agree with each statement.
Base: 42 Respondents
D1. NUS conducted some research into the main challenges for students’ unions in 2013, these were found to be [READ OUT LIST].
Which of these, if any, would you say are challenges for your students’ union this year?
…the SU is central to students’ lives
43%
46%
71% of students’ unions mentioned increasing student expectations as a challenge for them in the past year
Students’ unions tend to over estimate their impact & how they are perceived
*SU estimates in grey boxes

12. Students’ Unions we have worked with

13. Focus on… our work with the Strategic Support Unit…
The Insight Team have developed a closer working relationship with the Strategic Support Unit and have collaborated on a number of projects recently.

14. Case studies – strategic review
Students’ Association in Central Scotland
Students’ Union in the North West

15. What else have we done for Students’ Unions…
Understanding the importance of student engagement and life on campus
Gaining insight into uses for an empty building space in the heart of campus
Understanding experiences of students living on campus
Evaluating the impact of projects and student volunteering activities

16. Tiered approach
Offer support and advice to carry out the research by yourself
Collaborate on the research project, using your team expertise too
Carry out the project entirely for you

17. Commercial clients

18. Case studies
Leading software company
Leading drinks company

19. Third sector, government and educational organisations

20. Third sector organisation
Case studies
HE organisation
Third sector organisation

21. Over to you…
What experience of conducting research has your organisation had…?
Who have you worked with in your research in the past?
How do you think we could help you?
What sort of support do you think we could give you?
Would you consider working with NUS Insight?