• Section 1 - Background and Purpose
• Section 2 - Scope
• Section 3 - Policy Statement
• Section 4 - Procedures
• Section 5 - Definitions

Section 1 - Background and Purpose

(1) The evaluation, quality assurance, and promotion of effective, high quality curriculum design, teaching and learning are core professional responsibilities of the University’s academic staff and academic management. 

(2) The University’s academic quality assurance and improvement system comprises a number of elements, including feedback provided by currently enrolled undergraduate and postgraduate students on aspects of subjects that directly affect their learning and success.  Feedback from academic peers, managers, graduates and other relevant stakeholders will also be sought and incorporated into the system.

(3) The purpose of the Student Feedback on Subjects (SFS) is to provide information to be used in both the summative and formative evaluation of subjects.  The process is used to elicit, document and summarise information on student perceptions of quality and effectiveness of curriculum for use in subject evaluation, accreditation and other academic quality assurance processes, as well as for quality enhancement.

(4) The Federal Government and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency may require the University to report aggregate SFS outcomes.

Section 2 - Scope

(5) Applies to all coursework subjects of the University, wherever taught.

Section 3 - Policy Statement

(6) The University SFS questionnaire will be used to seek students’ perceptions of subjects in all teaching modes and location for each offering of a subject.

(7) In addition to supporting improvement in curriculum design, teaching and learning within the University, aggregated data from these questionnaires are to be published for the University community and the Federal Government.

(8) Students will have access to information about the ways in which student feedback has been used to improve the subject. The Subject Coordinator will ensure that students are provided with a summary of changes academic staff have made on the basis of previous SFS results and the changes will be published on the LMS site. Training and consultation to assist in interpretation of feedback data and ensure its appropriate use in decision making will be provided by the Data and Performance Analytics (DAPA) and La Trobe Learning and Teaching.

Section 4 - Procedures

(9) Refer to the:

1. Student Feedback on Subjects - Administration Procedures
2. Student Feedback on Subjects - Publication Procedures

Section 5 - Definitions

(10) For the purpose of this Policy:

1. Questionnaire: the instrument (questions) used to conduct a survey.
2. Survey: the method for collecting information.