Assessment and Feedback as Predictors for Student Satisfaction in UK Higher Education

Assessment and feedback mechanisms are essential components towards effective teaching in higher education and are continuously monitored. The annual student satisfaction survey in UK higher education collects students’ perception on those dimensions and issues results to assist institutions identify their weaknesses and amend their strategies and improve their teaching effectiveness. This study explores assessment and feedback as predictors for overall student satisfaction. It focuses on business schools mainly and uses the officially published dataset. Following a regression analysis approach, it can be concluded that there is evidence to support the claim that assessment and marking can be used as predictors for overall student satisfaction in this subdomain. The significance of the study lies in the fact that universities consider assessment and feedback as of key importance for improving student experience. It is thus critical for the institutions to gain a better understanding on whether those factors can be safely used as predictors of overall student satisfaction, something that is related to university ranking tables. Results in the study, demonstrate some important aspects of this and indicate that improved quality in marking and feedback can have a positive effect in student satisfaction. A more comprehensive study can unfold additional dimensions of the survey and shed light on how students perceive marking, assessment and feedback in higher education in general.