Jisc launches new Online Surveys template library to help colleges and FE providers turn feedback into action

New resource provides ready-made survey templates for learner voice, staff experience and accessibility and quality improvement, while preserving access to digital experience surveys.

The UK FE sector can now gain access to a new library of education-focused survey templates through Jisc’s Online Surveys platform helping staff gather meaningful feedback more quickly and consistently across their organisations.

By providing a starting point built around common FE use cases, the templates reduce the time needed to design surveys from scratch and help ensure a more consistent approach across departments. This can support better governance, improve data quality, reduce duplication of effort and enhance strategic decision making.

Reflecting the growing need for colleges to collect robust evidence, better understand learner and staff experiences, collect apprenticeship and employer feedback, and support quality enhancement activities while working within increasingly stretched resources, the new template library delivers a bank of ready-made resources across areas including digital experience, course evaluation, open day feedback and accessibility.

In addition to the sector-focused templates provided by Jisc, colleges can also create their own branded, standardised templates for use across departments and teams.

Supporting evidence-informed improvement

Further education providers rely heavily on feedback from learners, staff, employers and prospective students to inform improvement activity and to gain greater understanding around what is working and where further support may be needed.

The new Online Surveys template library aims to make this process simpler, quicker and more accessible, giving colleges access to established survey frameworks that can be adopted immediately or adapted to local requirements.

As a secure platform designed specifically for education, Online Surveys enables institutions to build, distribute and analyse surveys in a secure environment, while exporting data for deeper analysis and reporting where required.

Annette McCone, head of student support, advice and wellbeing, UCEN Manchester:

“We first used Jisc Online Surveys for our pre-arrival questionnaire through a project licence. The platform made it easy to build and distribute the survey, and we achieved fantastic response rates. That experience gave us the confidence to move to an institution-wide licence. Our teams can now get surveys up and running quickly, while the platform’s accessibility and approach to student data give us confidence in using it more widely.” 

Robin Ghurbhurun, UK managing director, further education and skills, Jisc:

“The UK FE sector is under increasing pressure to gather meaningful organisational data that supports operational delivery whilst limiting the impact on staff capacity.

“These templates provide a practical starting point that helps institutions collect consistent, secure, timely and insightful feedback that allows FE leaders to focus more of their effort on turning insight into action.”

Continued access to Digital Experience Insights surveys

The launch also provides an important opportunity for colleges to continue benefiting from digital experience survey questions, with templates now available within the new template library for colleges with project or organisation-level Online Surveys subscriptions. This allows providers to continue gathering valuable feedback on learners’ and staff’s digital experiences to support local enhancement activity.

Colleges interested in contributing to the development of a future benchmarking service can also register their interest through Jisc’s expression of interest process.

Free trial available for colleges

To help colleges explore the platform, Jisc is offering a free 30-day trial of Online Surveys.

The trial allows institutions to experience the platform first-hand and begin building surveys ahead of key activities during the academic year.

As colleges continue to seek efficient ways to capture and act upon feedback, the new template library offers a practical resource that can help strengthen evidence-based decision-making while reducing the administrative burden on staff.