1. Exit Interviews with Graduating Students
Dharini Balasubramaniam
School of Computer Science
Learning & Teaching Dissemination

2. Acknowledgements School of Chemistry School of Computer Science
Prof Phil Lightfoot
Prof Chris Baddeley
School of Computer Science
Interviewers and students
16/10/2017

3. Motivation Beyond MEQs and NSS Feedback on
Entire programme
Whole student experience
Academic and otherwise
Part of Athena SWAN action plan
16/10/2017

4. Target cohort Graduating students BSc Hons (single and joint) MSci MSc
16/10/2017

5. Scheduling Undergraduate Taught postgraduate Semester 2, week 12
Will do at the same time again
Taught postgraduate
Final week of dissertation
Between dissertation submission and poster session
Would like to move this earlier, to ~end of July
16/10/2017

6. Interviewers UG PGT Role added to duty list
DoT, Athena SWAN convener, Honours coordinator
PGT
DoT, Athena SWAN convener, DoPGT (x2), MSc lecturer (x3)
Role added to duty list
16/10/2017

7. Process Availability agreed with interviewers
Schedule with pre-allocated slots (15 mins each)
Random allocation
A couple of free slots at the end of each session
Some gaps built in
to students with link to schedule and questions to be asked
No inducements!
Students could request change to a free slot
School office maintained master schedule and dealt with requests for changes
16/10/2017

8. UG questions
Do you have any suggestions for improvements of school facilities such as labs and common areas or the general school environment?
How useful did you find the different aspects of teaching in the school, such as lectures, small group tutorials, exercise classes and projects?
What are your career plans (job in industry, PhD, teaching, etc)? Do you feel your experience of studying Computer Science at St Andrews has prepared you well for these plans?
Have you perceived any bias towards you or anyone you know on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other factor in the School of Computer Science? If so, did this influence your further career plans, and if it did, how?
What was the best part of your time in the school and what aspect needs the most improvement?
Do you have any other feedback?
16/10/2017

9. PGT questions
Do you have any suggestions for improvements of school facilities such as labs and common areas or the general school environment?
How useful did you find the different aspects of teaching in the school, such as lectures, tutorials, group work and projects? Do you have any suggestions for new forms of delivery?
What are your career plans (job in industry, PhD, teaching, etc)? Do you feel your experience of studying in the School of Computer Science at St Andrews has prepared you well for these plans?
Have you perceived any bias towards you or anyone you know on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other factor in the School of Computer Science? If so, did this influence your further career plans, and if it did, how?
What was the best part of your time in the school and what aspect needs the most improvement?
Do you have any other feedback?
16/10/2017

10. Interviews Personal interview with an interviewer
Held in interviewer’s office
Anonymised notes taken during interviews
Tally kept separately for gender & programme
16/10/2017

11. Student engagement Very good
UG: 86%
PGT: 73%
Most students put a lot of thought into this
Fair, honest, constructive & useful feedback
16/10/2017

12. After interviews Collated responses
Report shared with all staff and school president, summarising responses and recommended actions
Actions to address issues raised
16/10/2017

13. Reflections on experience
Students appreciate personal element
“not another online survey”
Pre-allocating slots works
Feedback on a range of issues
Students are keen to help us
Students had had more time to reflect on their experience
UG vs PGT
Differences in concerns, perceptions & interpretations
PGT: academic concerns more about assessment and its fairness than workload, bias concerns more about race & nationality than gender, didn’t dismiss them, concerns and interpretations coloured by previous uni experience,
16/10/2017

14. On the whole … A very pleasant and useful exercise
Students were very positive overall
Learned a lot
We plan to do it every year
Thoroughly recommend it
16/10/2017