A major new survey of the psychosocial study environment at the University of Aarhus shows that 84% of the students are satisfied or very satisfied with their education. The survey also shows that there is a direct relationship between low STÅ rates (revenue in terms of the number of years of full-time study) and frustration and low study activity among the students.

Study environment

Today, the University of Aarhus is publishing the results of the most extensive survey undertaken at a Danish university of the psychosocial study environment among students. The survey shows that 83% of the students feel really good about their studies, and that more than 84% are satisfied or very satisfied with their education at the University of Aarhus. Naturally, Pro-rector Nina Smith, Chair of the Study Committee at the university, is very pleased with the result.

“It’s very encouraging that the students are doing well at the University of Aarhus, but it’s just as important that we’ve now completed an extremely comprehensive and valuable survey, which we can use in the future-oriented work targeting the study environment at the university,” says Nina Smith. She emphasises that the large amount of information will now be processed by the individual main academic areas.

Torben K. Jensen, Director of the Centre for Learning and Education, University of Aarhus, was responsible for the student environment survey. He has the following explanation of the high degree of satisfaction at the University of Aarhus:

“There are four conditions that are particularly important for student satisfaction:

• The subject area interests the students and they feel they are part of an academic community.
• The students have good contact with their fellow students and find them accommodating.
• The academic demands are clear and the teaching is appropriately organised.
• The students do not feel lonely.

And here the University of Aarhus gets a high score,” says Torben K. Jensen.

“The survey shows to a large extent that well-being is something that can be influenced by the way the teaching is organised and carried out. In other words, the more we take care of the students, the more satisfied they are, and the more time they spend on their studies. We must take this fact into consideration, of course, when we’re planning the course of our degree programmes,” says Nina Smith.

The time spent on studies is one of the surprising figures in the survey. On average, a full-time student spends about 30 hours a week studying. The figures cover a considerable spread, where time consumption is greatest at the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Science and least at the Faculty of Humanities and particularly the Danish School of Education, which – compared with the other faculties – has many adult students out in the workplace.

“My immediate opinion is that there’s room for improvement, but before we assume that the students don’t spend enough time on their studies/degree programmes, we need to analyse the figures thoroughly,” says Nina Smith.

“For example, we can see that time consumption is greater at Bachelor level, where there are generally many hours of exercises and lectures, and that some take a few subjects, either because they find it hard to keep up, they want to concentrate on a particular aspect, or they’re deliberately striving for higher marks. It can also be because the students acquire other skills from study periods abroad, and practical or business-related work,” says Torben K. Jensen.

“The survey is a terrifically good tool for further work on the education environment and degree programmes at the University of Aarhus. There are a number of areas where we can make efforts ourselves. These include areas such as the students’ contact with the teachers, counselling and feedback. However, the survey also shows that there is a direct relationship between low rates for the number of years of full-time study (STÅ rates) and frustration and low study activity among the students. This naturally has a very hard impact on the main academic areas of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Theology, the Aarhus School of Business and the Danish School of Education because they operate with very low STÅ rates. The more resources we have available per student, the more active and satisfied they are with their studies,” says Nina Smith, who does not doubt for a moment that the survey in many respects reflects the university environment in Denmark.

About the survey

All full-time students at the University of Aarhus – i.e. approximately 30,000 – were encouraged via an electronic questionnaire to answer a series of questions about their well-being, contact with their fellow students and teachers, the organisation of their teaching, the social life available in connection with their studies, their workload, work effort, stress, etc. Close to 8,500 students made time to answer the questionnaire, which is very satisfactory.

See Summary of Study Environment 2007 (400 kb)

See Study Environment 2007, report no. 1. Main results and key figures (in Danish only).

More information

More information: Pro-rector Nina Smith, tel. +452778 2870 and Centre Director Torben K. Jensen, tel. +452870 3192 or Anders Correll, tel. +45 2899 2235.

3. June 2008
Anders Correll
The rectorate
ac@adm.au.dk