The Student Voice Weekly

The Student Voice Weekly is a short podcast for UK higher education leaders who want to turn student feedback, policy and research into practical action.Each week, Dr Stuart Grey, founder of Student Voice AI and Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, unpacks the latest evidence on student voice, assessment, feedback, regulation and institutional improvement.Expect concise briefings on HE research, OfS and QAA developments, NSS and survey practice, and practical ways to use student comments more rigorously.

26 episodes

9d ago latest

weekly cadence

English language

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Episodes 27

Student voice needs somewhere to go
2d ago · 9:08
This week, Dr Stuart Grey asks what happens after universities collect student feedback. Drawing on new research into student-centred culture and longitudinal evidence about student engagement, Stuart explains why feedback needs a clear route to the people who can act-and why comments provide context that scores alone cannot. In This Episode - Why collecting student feedback is only the beginning. - How evidence can become trapped at a different level from the decision it needs. - Why closing the feedback loop does not mean agreeing to every request. - What longitudinal research tells us about
When academic challenge becomes avoidable stress
9d ago · 5:38
This week, Dr Stuart Grey asks where responsibility for academic stress actually sits. Drawing on a national study of more than 19,000 undergraduates and research into how early-career academics use student evaluations, Stuart explores how universities can distinguish worthwhile academic challenge from avoidable pressure created by course design. In This Episode - Why academic stress cannot sit with counselling and wellbeing services alone. - What a large Australian study suggests about the relationship between course experience and student distress. - How workload bunching, unclear criteria a
Where your student comments actually go
16d ago · 5:59
This week, Dr Stuart Grey steps away from the usual research and sector-news format to talk directly about data security and provenance. Prompted by Student Voice's recent move to serve Irish institutions from an EU data centre, Stuart explains how regional residency and model provenance work together. UK customer data remains entirely in the UK, while Irish customer data is processed in the EU. Categorisation and sentiment analysis use deterministic machine-learning models; locally run LLMs are used only for summarisation. In This Episode - Why student comments need to be treated as sensitive
Let students shape the question
23d ago · 7:42
This week, Dr Stuart Grey asks who gets to decide what universities ask students in the first place. Drawing on papers he read this week, his own teaching, and Student Voice's national NSS comment analysis, Stuart explores what changes when students help frame the question, produce the evidence, and interpret what it means. In This Episode - Why student-led consultation can change the quality of wellbeing evidence. - What Bangor University's student consultants added by working across the whole evidence pipeline. - What Student Voice's Feedback and Student Support categories reveal beyond the
Designing participation that students can use
1mo ago · 8:39
This week, Dr Stuart Grey looks at how universities can design student voice around usable space, meaningful expression, a real audience, and visible influence. The episode considers a Manchester Metropolitan University case study applying Lundy's participation model, a scoping review of how higher education research defines belonging, Leicester's NSS 2026 results, and the consistency questions raised by Swansea University's Quality Enhancement Review. In This Episode - Why adding a feedback channel does not necessarily widen participation. - How space, voice, audience, and influence provide a
When participation becomes influence
1mo ago · 9:12
This week, Dr Stuart Grey looks at the difference between students participating in teaching and feeling able to influence it. The episode examines a study of 1,713 final-year students in Colombia, where expressive voice accounted for a modest part of the relationship between collaborative learning and academic achievement. It then considers research on care and engagement, Sheffield Hallam's move away from a university-wide module evaluation process, and the evidence standards universities still need when student voice becomes more local. In This Episode - Why participation and influence are
What QAA wants universities to do after NSS
1mo ago · 7:44
This week, Dr Stuart Grey focuses on QAA's response to NSS 2026 and what universities need to do once the results-day headlines have passed. The episode looks at internal enhancement, weaker experiences among part-time, apprenticeship, and disabled students, the cost of taking part in student engagement, and the support student representatives need to contribute meaningfully to quality assurance. It also considers why shorter provision needs faster feedback loops. In This Episode - Why improving NSS averages should not close down the conversation about subgroup gaps. - What QAA's post-results
NSS results need more than headlines
1mo ago · 7:51
This week, Dr Stuart Grey focuses on NSS 2026 results day: the national headlines, the disabled student gaps that still need action, and what it takes to turn large volumes of student comments into usable evidence quickly. The episode also looks at what Student Voice AI produced for NSS customers on results day, why sentence-level labels matter, and how recent research should shape the way universities use machine-learning analysis and high-stakes teaching evaluation evidence. In This Episode - Why stronger NSS national headlines do not remove the need for subgroup analysis. - What results day
Student feedback should start a dialogue
1mo ago · 6:50
This week, Dr Stuart Grey starts with Daniel Robson and Helena Lim's Wonkhe piece on King's College London, where the NSS comment analysis work was delivered in collaboration with Student Voice AI. The episode discusses why faster comment analysis matters only when it preserves enough detail for human review, academic judgement, and visible action while universities still have time to respond. In This Episode - What the King's College London example shows about turning NSS comments into usable evidence quickly. - Why student feedback should not be treated as a direct verdict on teaching qualit
What students actually mean when they talk about AI
2mo ago · 7:39
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses why universities need sharper AI-related student feedback questions, especially as guidance moves from broad policy statements into modules, assessments, and local teaching practice. The episode covers AI attitude survey design, Jisc's latest AI guidance and governance work, student mini-publics, and how universities can separate AI comments by usefulness, clarity, confidence, fairness, and support need. In This Episode - Why broad "do you use AI" or "are you concerned about AI" questions no longer give universities enough evidence to act on. - Why student A
Students judge AI by care, not just competence
2mo ago · 8:10
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses why students judge staff AI use through care, trust, fairness, and visible human judgement, not only through technical competence or speed. The episode covers new research on student perceptions of AI-using teachers, evidence on AI detector false positives, Bath's survey architecture, QAA's assessment and feedback roadshow, and a practical way to separate student comments about care, clarity, fairness, and accountability. In This Episode - A brief Student Voice update on the build-up to NSS results day, new output formats, Newcastle University returning, and
AI legitimacy: students want to see the human judgement
2mo ago · 8:00
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses AI legitimacy and student voice evidence: why students judge AI through trust, anxiety, fairness, and the visibility of human judgement, not only through speed or technical performance. The episode covers student feelings about generative AI, feedback dialogue, Cambridge evidence on AI marking, Jisc's formative feedback pilot, and practical ways to separate comments about policy, assessment, belonging, and academic care. In This Episode - Why student feelings about AI are mixed, and why that matters for belonging and trust. - How feedback dialogue helps stud
Time poverty is the new hidden barrier
2mo ago · 7:57
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses time poverty and student voice evidence: how low-income students lose study time through work, travel, administration, money pressure, and systems that assume spare capacity. The episode covers time poverty as widening participation evidence, fair process in student evaluation systems, Cardiff's QER recommendation on student voice mechanisms, Advance HE's TEF analysis, and practical ways to read comments about workload, organisation, and trust as evidence about system design. In This Episode - Why time functions as a classed resource for low-income students.
Belonging is built in seminars, not slogans
3mo ago · 8:06
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses belonging and student voice evidence: why international wellbeing, friendship formation, and collaborative study are shaped by ordinary academic contact rather than slogans or one-off events. The episode covers everyday community engagement, friendship and collaborative study, DfE franchise arrangements guidance, Jisc's new "None of the above" option, and practical ways to read comments about belonging as evidence about curriculum design, wellbeing, and confidence. In This Episode - Why belonging often depends on small, repeated points of contact in teaching
AI Feedback Needs Teacher Judgement and Better Design
3mo ago · 8:37
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses AI feedback and student voice evidence: how universities can use AI feedback without removing teacher judgement, and how assessment evidence connects with student value, belonging and attendance. The episode covers AI feedback design, paid student voice roles, QAA Scotland's review of awarding evidence, HEPI's latest findings on student value and belonging, and practical ways to test whether feedback is specific, trusted and usable. In This Episode - Why students tend to value AI feedback most when teacher judgement stays visible. - How paid student voice ro
When Scores Miss the Feedback Story
3mo ago · 8:25
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses feedback evidence: how universities move beyond headline scores and into the student comments, context and action trail underneath them. The episode covers feedback literacy, OfS scrutiny of assessment feedback, NSS 2026 preparation, and why student feedback comments need to be grouped by the kind of action they require. In This Episode - Why assessment and feedback scores can hide several different problems. - How feedback literacy can develop even when survey scores stay flat. - What the OfS Northampton case signals about evidence, clarity and student voic
Welcome week is not your belonging strategy
3mo ago · 7:56
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses belonging, partnership and timing: why welcome week is not enough to be a university's belonging strategy. The episode covers research on first-year introduction week, student voice as partnership, Portsmouth's assessment regulation changes and Westminster's mid-module check-ins. In This Episode - Why welcome week mainly strengthens peer belonging, not staff belonging. - Why belonging needs to be designed and checked across the semester, not only in week zero. - How dropout intention and wellbeing connect to belonging evidence. - Why student voice should be
Engagement is a design problem, not a student problem
4mo ago · 8:12
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses engagement as a design problem. Weak engagement often tells universities something about the conditions they have created, not simply something about student motivation. The episode covers student engagement research, generative AI feedback, Glasgow's assessment and feedback tool and Wonkhe's AI assessment report. In This Episode - Why engagement gaps often point to institutional design. - How unclear briefs, late feedback and inconsistent expectations shape student behaviour. - What research suggests about institutional design and student background. - Why
Trust is the missing piece in AI disclosure
4mo ago · 7:32
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses GenAI disclosure as a trust problem. Students are more likely to disclose AI use when governance feels fair, consistent and credible in real teaching practice. The episode connects research with 739 students to QAA subject benchmark statements, QAA GenAI assessment focus groups and evidence on who completes student evaluations. In This Episode - Why GenAI disclosure is not just a policy communication problem. - How trust, fairness and implementation fidelity shape whether students disclose AI assistance. - Why inconsistent interpretation by staff turns discl
Belonging is not a single number
4mo ago · 7:48
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses belonging and retention: why one belonging score is rarely enough to explain who feels connected, who is drifting and what universities should do next. The episode covers a review of 66 studies on belonging, mature student induction, DMU's block teaching evaluation and Jisc's decision to retire Digital Experience Insights. In This Episode - Why belonging is not one thing and should not be treated as a single diagnostic score. - How belonging evidence changes when the job is descriptive, evaluative or predictive. - Why mature student induction needs to be des
Evaluations do not improve teaching, conversations do
4mo ago · 7:19
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses why student evaluation reports do not improve teaching on their own. The improvement happens in the conversations staff and students have after the data is collected. The episode covers evaluation dialogue, belonging survey validation, UUK quality principles, Jisc Online Surveys changes and how complaint comments often include practical fixes. In This Episode - Why student feedback is not the intervention by itself. - Why staff need time and context to interpret student comments well. - How dialogue turns evaluation reports into teaching improvement. - Why b
Co-design your evaluations or you will not trust the data
4mo ago · 7:20
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses evaluation design: why staff and students need to co-design feedback instruments before anyone can fully trust the data they produce. The episode connects a six-year evaluation redesign study with OfS evidence requirements, PTES survey design and the risk of comparing scores that are not really comparable. In This Episode - Why a clean dashboard cannot rescue a badly designed survey question. - What co-design reveals about how staff and students understand good teaching. - Why concepts like rigour and learning environment need careful unpacking. - Why studen
Make quality assurance visible, or students will assume it is not working
5mo ago · 6:44
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses quality assurance visibility: why students often assume nothing changes when the feedback system is hard to see. The episode covers QAA research on student representation, accreditation visibility, survey benchmarking and the governance work needed to make student voice credible. In This Episode - Why having feedback channels is not the same as having a healthy student voice system. - What QAA research across 78 institutions suggests about student representation practice. - Why accreditation and quality assurance work needs to be visible to students. - How b
When scores all move together: halo effects, bias, and what to do with student feedback
5mo ago · 7:32
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses what to do when student evaluation scores all move together. Halo effects and bias change what the data can tell you, but they do not make student feedback useless. The episode covers correlated evaluation scores, gender stereotypes in teaching recognition, joined-up wellbeing survey practice and Glasgow's MyGrades rollout. In This Episode - What halo effects mean in student evaluations. - Why correlated scores make fine-grained diagnosis risky. - How comments and operational data can make broad score signals more useful. - How gender stereotypes shape who g
Confusion, workload, and the real drivers of misconduct
5mo ago · 7:45
This week, Dr Stuart Grey discusses academic misconduct, workload and feedback timing: why integrity cases often point upstream to unclear assessment design, deadline pressure and uneven support. The episode connects a study of 3,070 misconduct reflections with evidence on feedback speed, the latest TEF data dashboard and OfS condition E10 on subcontracting. In This Episode - Why misconduct, feedback complaints and regulation dashboards should not be treated as separate stories. - What student reflections after misconduct cases reveal about confusion, workload and confidence. - Why faster feed

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The Student Voice Weekly

Episodes 27

Student voice needs somewhere to go

When academic challenge becomes avoidable stress

Where your student comments actually go

Let students shape the question

Designing participation that students can use

When participation becomes influence

What QAA wants universities to do after NSS

NSS results need more than headlines

Student feedback should start a dialogue

What students actually mean when they talk about AI

Students judge AI by care, not just competence

AI legitimacy: students want to see the human judgement

Time poverty is the new hidden barrier

Belonging is built in seminars, not slogans

AI Feedback Needs Teacher Judgement and Better Design

When Scores Miss the Feedback Story

Welcome week is not your belonging strategy

Engagement is a design problem, not a student problem

Trust is the missing piece in AI disclosure

Belonging is not a single number

Evaluations do not improve teaching, conversations do

Co-design your evaluations or you will not trust the data

Make quality assurance visible, or students will assume it is not working

When scores all move together: halo effects, bias, and what to do with student feedback

Confusion, workload, and the real drivers of misconduct

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Episodes 27

Student voice needs somewhere to go

When academic challenge becomes avoidable stress

Where your student comments actually go

Let students shape the question

Designing participation that students can use

When participation becomes influence

What QAA wants universities to do after NSS

NSS results need more than headlines

Student feedback should start a dialogue

What students actually mean when they talk about AI

Students judge AI by care, not just competence

AI legitimacy: students want to see the human judgement

Time poverty is the new hidden barrier

Belonging is built in seminars, not slogans

AI Feedback Needs Teacher Judgement and Better Design

When Scores Miss the Feedback Story

Welcome week is not your belonging strategy

Engagement is a design problem, not a student problem

Trust is the missing piece in AI disclosure

Belonging is not a single number

Evaluations do not improve teaching, conversations do

Co-design your evaluations or you will not trust the data

Make quality assurance visible, or students will assume it is not working

When scores all move together: halo effects, bias, and what to do with student feedback

Confusion, workload, and the real drivers of misconduct