Adviser satisfaction survey 2013

Research summary

Introduction• This survey was carried out to:

• understand advisers’ satisfaction with UCAS and our products and services • to understand where our products and services can be improved.

• The survey is to be repeated annually, to track year-on-year performance.

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Methodology • 13,640 UCAS contacts at schools and UCAS centres were invited by email to complete the

survey.

• 720 advisers (498 in the UK and 222 overseas) responded to the survey, a good response rate of 5%.

Respondents’ survey responses were treated in the strictest confidence, in accordance with the Market Research Society’s code of conduct.

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We’ll keep doing what we’re doing. Plus, we’ll aim to engage better, especially with:

• inexperienced advisers• international advisers• parents.

We will also:

• remind advisers about the products, services and I&A resources that can support them• demystify areas seen as complex, such as Adjustment and Extra• simplify terminology• review UCAS Card.

Key findings – at a glance

What does this mean for UCAS?

Advisers’ rating of... % ‘Great’ or ‘Good’

Overall experience of UCAS in the last year

96%

UCAS’ brand 97%

UCAS’ reputation in the sector 97%

• 97% of UK advisers and 93% of international advisers had a ‘great’ or ‘good’ experience of UCAS.

• 91% say the UCAS website* is ‘great’ or ‘good’ at ‘providing the information you need’, only 72% give the same rating for ‘ease of finding what you’re looking for’.

• Satisfaction is high with all UCAS products and services – except Adjustment. • Most advisers are satisfied with the communications they receive from UCAS.• Advisers’ perceptions of UCAS’ image are really positive. However,

international and inexperienced advisers had a slightly less positive experience of UCAS and less positive perceptions of UCAS’ image and communications.

• Advisers are very keen to engage more with UCAS – through free online learning and attending free regional events for advisers and institutions.

• Only 20% of advisers heavily promote UCAS Card to their students.

*The survey was conducted before the relaunch of ucas.com

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Free text responses to ‘How would you rate your overall experience of UCAS in the last year?’

The size of the text indicates how frequent it was written in response to this question

0%

1%

7%

48%

45%

0%

0%

3%

50%

47%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Awful

Bad

Fair

Good

Great

How would you rate your overall experience of UCAS in the last year?

UK advisers Non-UK advisers

10 most popular subjects raised by non-UK advisers

Number of respondents

Type

The system is user friendly 21 Positive

UCAS has great customer service 16 Positive

The system is very frustrating 6 Negative

Happy with UCAS 6 Positive

More training is required 4 Negative

Deadline issues 3 Negative

Other international application processes are better 3 Negative

Good communication products and channels 2 Positive

Good events and/or seminars 2 Positive

Issues with references & personal statements 2 Negative

Great customer service and user-friendliness of the system were most commonly mentioned in free text responses

• 168 respondents chose to explain the reason. • Comments about great customer service and user-

friendliness of the application system were common to both UK and non-UK advisers.

• Frustrations with the system were also noted, as well as issues with Course Search and ucas.com.

10 most popular subjects raised by UK advisers

Number of respondents

Type

UCAS has great customer service 61 Positive

The system is very frustrating 11 Negative

Happy with UCAS 11 Positive

The website is useful and informative 9 Positive

The system is user friendly 7 Positive

Course Search needs changing/updating 7 Negative

The website needs improving 6 Negative

Adviser Track needs changing/updating 4 Negative

Products and services are too expensive 2 Negative

Deadline issues 2 Negative

5

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Satisfaction amongst advisers is high with most UCAS products and services

Product or service % of users who are very/fairly satisfied

Apply 97%

Adviser Track 92%

Course Search* 89%

Contact Centre Schools Team 89%

Extra 83%

Clearing 74%

UCAS conventions 74%

Competitor, offers and progression reports 73%

UCAS conferences 71%

Adjustment 64%

*The survey was conducted before the launch of the new search tool.

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Advisers’ perceptions of UCAS’ image are really positive tooAdvisers were asked to what extent they agree or disagree with a number of image statements which are based on objectives in the UCAS Corporate Strategy 2010-2015.

• Top rated image statements are:• UCAS provides an efficient service for applicants (94% strongly agree or agree)• UCAS is trusted (93% strongly agree or agree)• UCAS communicates with applicants using up-to-date technologies (90%

strongly agree or agree).

• Lowest rated image statements are:• UCAS inspires applicants (43% strongly agree or agree)• UCAS helps applicants make the right choices, for the right reasons and with

the right outcomes (48% strongly agree or agree)• UCAS is influential (59% strongly agree or agree).

International advisers and advisers with less experience of UCAS applications tend to have the least positive perceptions of UCAS’ image.

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Most advisers are satisfied with the amount and frequency of the communications they receive from UCAS

• Satisfaction with communications is highest in terms of:• sent to the right person (97% very/fairly satisfied)• quality (93% very/fairly satisfied)• choice of channel (email/post etc) (93% very/fairly satisfied).

• Satisfaction was lowest in terms of:• ease of changing recipient’s contact details (72% very/fairly satisfied)• relevance to you (89% very/fairly satisfied).

International advisers and inexperienced advisers are slightly less satisfied with the amount and frequency of UCAS communications.

93% of the advisers surveyed feel the amount of communication they receive is ‘about right’. 3% feel they get ‘too much’ and 3% feel they get ‘too little’.

Advisers are generally happy with the frequency of communications: newsletters (93% ‘about right’), other emails (89% ‘about right’) and illume magazine (84% ‘about right’).

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Email is advisers’ preferred contact methodMost popular• 99% of the advisers surveyed feel UCAS should provide information to them by email.• ucas.com (84%), online videos (39%) and a secure online forum (25%) are the next most popular

methods.• Other online methods are slightly more popular amongst international advisers, including online

videos (41%) and is secure online forums (27%).Least popular• Social media is the least popular method (Facebook 10% and Twitter 8%).• ucas.com is a less popular method amongst international advisers (87% UK advisers vs 77% non-

UK advisers).

Only 20% of advisers heavily promote UCAS Card to their students Only one fifth of the UK advisers

surveyed say they heavily promote UCAS Card to their students (20%). 60%

say they ‘don’t push it that much’ and 5% say they don’t know what UCAS

Card is.

Issues with UCAS Card identified in free text include a perception of too much work for advisers, difficulties with distribution of the card and lack of lack of information about benefits of the scheme.

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Advisers are very keen to engage more with UCAS

• More than three quarters of UK advisers (78%) say they are interested in attending a free UCAS event in their region for advisers and local higher education institutions.

• 77% of UK advisers and 91% of international advisers say they are interested in receiving free online training from UCAS in the form of e-learning (online) courses. 62% of UK advisers and 88% of international advisers are interested in accessing free webinars.

• International advisers would like UCAS to attend more international conferences and events.

• Even non-engaged advisers (those who have not purchased a product or attended an event in the last year) want to engage. This cohort are even more interested in e-learning and webinars than engaged advisers.

Personal statements (UK 72%, non-UK 87%)Reference writing (UK 71%, non-UK 82%)Factors for successful applications (UK 68%, non-UK 77%).

The most popular topics amongst both UK and international advisers

are:

When advisers were asked what is the ONE biggest thing that UCAS could do to improve their satisfaction rating, 406 of the respondents (56%) gave an answer using the free text box.

The top 20 subjects mentioned the most were:

Rank Subject areas mentionedNumber of times

subject was mentioned

% of total respondents

1 Happy with UCAS 64 12%

2 There should be more / cheaper training opportunities 44 8%

3 There should be more accessible information 40 8%

4 Adviser Track could be improved 34 7%

5 Course Search could be improved / updated 31 6%

6 The website* is dated / needs to be improved 29 6%

7 Conferences and/or events 24 5%

8 Apply procedures need to be changed / updated 18 3%

9 The system needs to become more user friendly 18 3%

10There needs to be more information for international advisers and applicants

16 3%

Rank Subject areas mentioned Number of times subject

was mentioned

% of total respondents

11 The application process needs to become more user friendly 14 3%

12 The current referencing system could be improved 13 3%

13Speed of higher education institutions response to applicants is not fair

12 2%

14 Funding / cost of UCAS products and services is too much 11 2%

15 Clearing process could be improved 9 2%

16 Emails issues (would prefer more / less) 9 2%

17 Paper communications issues (would prefer more / less) 9 2%

18 UCAS needs to be reliable on results day 9 2%

19 Search and filter options need to be improved* 9 2%

20 Entry requirement information / guidance needs to be clearer 8 2%

11*The survey was conducted before the relaunch of ucas.com and before the launch of the new search

tool

Respondent profile

392

8766

41 39 3410 5

31

050

100150200250300350400450

A school An academy A sixth form college

A further education

(FE) college

A further education

college offering higher

education

An agency or educational consultancy

A higher education institution

A careers organisation

Other

Which one of the following best describes your centre?

England59%

Northern Ireland

3%

Scotland5%

Wales2%

A European Union (EU)

country11%

A non-EU country

20%

Where is your centre located?

A wide range of advisers responded to the survey• More than two thirds of survey respondents (69%) were

based in the UK. 11% were based in the EU and 20% in a non-EU country.

• 392 of the advisers (56%) describe their centre as ‘a school’. Other common centre types were ‘an academy’ (12%), ‘a sixth form college’ (9%) and ‘a further education college’ (6%).

• Small numbers of agents, HEIs and careers organisations also responded.

• ‘Other’ centre types included: international schools, private language schools and a distance learning centre.

Respondent base: 705

Respondent base: 720

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A non-selective, non fee-paying

school or college63%A selective, non

fee-paying school or college

12%

A non-selective, independent (fee-paying)

school or college6%

A selective, independent (fee-paying)

school or college13%

None of these6%

Is your centre...?

There was a good cross section of respondents from the UKIn which region of the UK is your centre located?

East Anglia – 7%

East Midlands – 8%

London – 12%

North East – 3%

North West – 11%

South West – 10%South East – 18%

West Midlands – 10%

Scotland - 8%

Northern Ireland- 4%

Wales - 3%

Yorkshire and Humberside – 7%

• All regions of the UK were represented in the survey.

• Almost two-thirds (63%) work in non-selective, non fee-paying schools or colleges. The second largest proportion (13%) came from selective, non fee-paying schools or colleges (grammar schools).

• Almost one fifth of respondents (19%) work at independent schools.

Respondent base: 486

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Non-UK respondents were from a range of countries across the world

Caribbean 4

Central America 4

East Asia 27

Eastern Africa 9

Eastern Europe 17

North America 10

Northern Africa 3

Northern Europe 24

Oceania 5

South America 2

South Asia 14

South East Asia 18

Southern Africa 1

Southern Europe 23

Western Africa 1

Western Asia / Middle East 33

Western Europe 22

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A range of length of UCAS experience and varied job roles were represented• Almost half of the advisers surveyed have

been helping students with their UCAS applications for seven years or more (48%).

• Just over one quarter have three years’ experience or less (26%). The same proportion have been doing the role for four to six years (26%).

• More than half of respondents are their centre’s dedicated careers adviser (53%), but more than one third also teach other subjects (36%).

• 31% of respondents are a head teacher, deputy head or head of sixth form. Other roles carried out by respondents include student learning mentor, administration and support, school business manager and counsellor.

Respondent base: 694

9%

17%

26%

14%

10%8%

5%

11%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

This is my first year in

the role

1 - 3 years 4 - 6 years 7 - 9 years 10 - 12 years 13 - 15 years 16 - 19 years 20 years or more

For approximately how many years have you been helping students with UCAS applications?

80%

53%

36% 31% 32%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

UCAS adviser Careers adviser Teacher of other subjects

Head teacher, deputy head, head of sixth

form or similar

Other

Which of these elements forms part of your job role? (Please tick all that apply.)

Respondent base: 685

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