1. Information Pack
2015
National Student Housing Survey

2. Contents Executive Summary Primary Objectives Awards Question Set3
Primary Objectives 5
Awards 6
Question Set 7
Reporting 8
Still Undecided? 9
Getting Involved 10

3. Executive Summary
The National Student Housing Survey (NSHS) is an annual survey of students in higher education. Since 2007 more than 60 universities and 21 private hall providers have chosen to switch to the NSHS.
Understanding accommodation performance is vital to securing a high quality experience for students. More than 90%1 of students say that accommodation is an important factor in university selection, and poor individual experiences significantly increase negative word-of-mouth about an institution; students talk about it.
The NSHS has a number of significant advantages over alternative survey options:
Professional design, analysis and reporting
Industry-recognised awards for performance
Mobile-friendly and easy to complete
Save hundreds of hours of your staff time
Benchmark against comparators (paid)
Standard top-line reporting is FREE – low risk
All promo materials and incentives provided
The highest paid reporting option is just £600 (for universities)
1 Actual figure 92%. Research conducted Feb – May 2014 by Red Brick Research. Based on responses from 18,829 students.

4. Executive Summary
The NSHS has a standard ‘core’ question set to allow for benchmarking, but additional questions can be added to target specific local issues.
Timing is flexible; the survey runs nationally from the beginning of Feb to the end of May allowing individual universities to schedule promotion to suit them. A split promotion either side of Easter is often the most effective and avoids NSS clash.
The NSHS is easy to complete, highly-focussed and completely relevant to students daily lives so response rates are typically high and impact on ‘survey fatigue’ minimal.
For further information and project credentials visit

5. Primary Objectives of the NSHS
The survey covers the full student journey, including the initial decision-making process, moving in, the accommodation experience, and reasons for moving on. The analysis of survey results can help accommodation providers answer key questions:-
What do different students want from their accommodation?
How do they go about finding and selecting their accommodation?
What is their experience of booking and moving in? How could it be improved?
How do students feel about their accommodation amenities and services? How should we prioritise improvements?
What is better or worse about our accommodation compared to others locally or nationally?
Where do students go when they leave our accommodation, and why?
The NSHS is a powerful business tool, enabling participants to benchmark their performance against local, regional and national results across all types of student accommodation. The question set is evolved in collaboration with participating institutions and Private Hall Providers ensuring that the survey remains up to date and relevant.

6. Awards
The NSHS recognises excellence; each year a number of awards are made to organisations receiving outstanding student feedback across the a range of criteria. If you have registered to participate, and your students have completed the survey, you will automatically be eligible for the Awards. There are currently 10 awards categories covering a whole range of aspects of accommodation from Broadband to Environmental Management. All the awards are calculated objectively based purely on student feedback.
In addition to the awards, we also issue our coveted International Accommodation Quality Mark to organisations demonstrating outstanding levels of satisfaction among international students.

7. Question Set
The survey takes a comprehensive look at all aspects of the student accommodation experience, from the search process right through to reasons for leaving, and everything in-between and covers these key question areas:
The question set has matured and stabilised over the last few years to allow participants to track their relative performance over time and measure the impact of changes to the local accommodation landscape.
In addition to the ‘core’ question set, we can include additional custom questions to help you address specific local issues, or smooth the transition from an existing internal survey. Please contact us for pricing.

8. Reporting
When the survey closes at the end of May we'll quality-check, clean and process the data before conducting a comprehensive analysis.
Reports will be prepared including all the benchmarking, demographics, free-text responses and customisations you've asked for. Reports are delivered in an accessible high-impact PowerPoint format allowing you to easily publish, extract, present and share the key findings with colleagues.
Alongside your reports, you can also access our Data Portal allowing any member of your team to explore results in detail through interactive charts and tables covering every aspect of the survey.
Finally, we'll also share our analysis reports and infographics illustrating the trends and opportunities emerging at a national level to help you develop successful long-term plans and strategies.
Full details of the available reporting options and prices (for universities) can be found on the website. Private hall providers and universities with specific requirements should contact us to discuss the options.
Sample reports are available on request.

9. Still Undecided?
If you are still not sure if being part of the NSHS is for you, we have some additional resources that you might like to see, or please call us or us with any questions .
To request any of the following please or call us on
Reporting Options
Question Set
Sample Reports
National Report for last year
NSHS Accommodation Award Winners for 2014
Materials to help you promote the survey
List of Universities, HE Providers and Private Hall Providers who have previously participated
NSHS Handbook

10. Getting Involved
Register Now - Universities, HE Institutions and Private Hall Providers can register to participate in the survey by:
Calling us on or
Visiting our website and clicking on the Pricing and Registration page.
Following Registration we will send you a copy of the NSHS Handbook, which will guide you through each stage of the process from registration to receiving your reports.
We’ll stay in touch with you at each stage of the process. If you do have any questions or would like to discuss any element of the NSHS please just call us on or us