Tribal i-graduate is delighted to welcome our first institution from India to participate in the International Student Barometer (ISB). Ajeenkya D Y Patil University in the city of Pune is one of the fastest-growing universities in the country. As they have attracted more students in recent years, their focus has begun to centre on listening to their student voice and using benchmarking data to inform their decision making. Their data will now be included alongside over 150 other institutions in the 2023 benchmark analysis, adding to the opinions and experiences of over 4 million students worldwide.
We spoke with Dr. Ashwini Sovani, Director - Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), to discuss just how important their choice to participate in the ISB has been, and the ways in which they plan to use the data to review their students’ experiences, as the university expands its domestic and international population year-on-year.
The ISB provides institutions with essential benchmarking data needed to make those decisions that will impact the experience of their students. From financial planning and course reviews to allocating staff resources and student retention, the ISB’s questions allow students to tell their institution just what they think, feel, and need from their university.
As Dr. Ashwini explained, their university’s decision to be the first in India to join was one made with their wider strategic goals in mind:
“Our strategic goal is to offer interdisciplinary education to the students and to grow both student numbers and our programmes offered. We are also looking to provide an improved international experience for our students and faculty members."
It is not just internationally where AYDPU is seeking improvement. The current climate in Indian institutions is one that can be seen as more competitive than other nations in terms of educational ranking and performance. As with other private education institutions, the question of course cost is one of the first that arises, bringing to light unique challenges as Dr. Ashwini highlights:
“It is very, very competitive in India especially in the higher fees bracket. Attracting good students and attracting good faculty members is very, very challenging.”
By having solid data from the ISB to back up marketing campaign claims where areas of excellence are being achieved against the global benchmark, stronger cases can be made to support course prices that are proven to offer a higher-quality education experience.
By joining the ISB, ADYPU is also the first university in India to be able to use its dataset to support their accreditation goals. Dr. Ashwini also noted that using the ISB as a benchmark for student experience will feed into their accreditation processes.
“We have accreditation agencies in India whom we have to comply with and we look forward to getting the NAAC accreditation: this is required for any university in India to progress. To earn it, you need to align your goals with the national education policy and see to it that you are complying with the requirements of these national agencies and regulatory authorities.”
The advantages of joining the ISB when seeking to obtain quality accreditations lie in being able to provide proof of understanding strengths and weaknesses, and also being able to evidence an approach to continuous improvement. An institution can prove that it is actively seeking ways to listen to its students and act on this feedback – having the data to show that the improvements are making a difference based on year-on-year feedback.
Dr. Ashwini agrees, stating that it is their participation in the ISB that makes them stand out in their local area:
“The ISB could become our best practice as we improve on listening to our students. It is what would make us different from others – for both students and regulators. It is not a mandatory exercise, but as an institution, we are going a step further than what is required. For us it is an essential step that proves we are committed to quality.”
There are of course many challenges that all universities, no matter their location, will face. As institutions starting from more humble numbers begin to expand their at-home and international student recruitment, allocations must be made for funding and resourcing to ensure that the student experience is both improved upon and able to be maintained at a suitable quality. As rapid expansion happens, it often presents a unique challenge in that quality control becomes more difficult to track across new student populations.
At ADYPU, as Head of Quality Assurance, Dr. Ashwini has been at the forefront of managing the student experience amid a swell in student growth.
“The challenge normally faced when it comes to rapid expansion is that we lose our connection with our own students because the volume grows too quickly. And for the top management, it becomes difficult to find out what exactly it is students are experiencing. When we increase the intake of students, of course it is very likely that the quality of students may go down or even the quality of faculty that we recruit.
And we need to keep track of that as well - it is essential we are recruiting the right factions, and that we have the right students who align themselves with us. We mustn’t lose our connection with our students - we need to find ways in which we can gather the pulse of our students.”
The data supplied by the ISB can be incredibly useful for institutions that find themselves struggling to manage fluctuations in student numbers. Whether it is a sharp decline or a rapid rise, Tribal i-graduate's student surveys are able to capture that ‘pulse’ and bring to the forefront of management meetings the right data to shed light on related challenges. ADYPU and other participating institutions are able to compare their own results against global benchmarks across the entire student experience, giving them an objective view of their strengths and areas for improvement.
One of the key draws for any international student when choosing their university is employability, with ‘future career impact’ being the number one reason for students’ choice of destination - 96% of students globally rate this as their first consideration.
“When students make their choices they place utmost importance on how they will become employed, especially in a country such as India. So, it is one of the most important factors for universities such as ours.”
The questions asked by the ISB feature segments on employability, allowing institutions to analyse how current and future students view their employment prospects, and whether they believe their institution’s reputation, teaching and employability support is a factor in enabling them to access greater employment opportunities. With this data, Dr. Ashwini and her team can begin to paint a better picture of their international students, including their perceptions of the university’s impact on their employability, and ultimately enable ADYPU to evaluate and continuously improve this aspect of the university so it is able to provide students with better employment opportunities.
One of the strengths of the ISB is the way that universities can compare their results against those of their region and beyond. Institutions gain a more accurate picture of the current student climate, assessing where they are exceeding or falling behind global benchmarks.
This context that the ISB provides institutions is something Dr. Ashwini believes should be of particular value to other Indian universities.
“As more Indian universities participate in the Barometer, the opportunity for mutual learning increases. I think any progressive university should be thinking about participation.”
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