In this final post of the Student Voice in Practice series, Marianne Brown provides a reflections and overview of the frustrations, innovations and future directions for Student Voice and feedback activities across the University of Edinburgh, including a new Student Voice Framework. Marianne is Head of Academic Planning in Registry Services.
Over the past year, we’ve been speaking with staff and students across the University to better understand how people feel about student voice, and what activities are being undertaken to collect, analyse and respond to student feedback. These conversations have highlighted just how much both groups value feedback and want to see it used meaningfully; not just in the classroom, but across the wider student experience.
What has become clear is that while there is genuine commitment and care, the culture and processes around feedback often feel frustrating, unclear, or ineffective. This blog post sets out what we’ve heard, how staff and students are experiencing feedback, and what we’re planning to do next to respond to this.
What we heard: Shared values, shared frustrations
One of the strongest messages from listening to staff and students is that people care. Staff and students alike want feedback to be a meaningful part of how we improve learning, courses, and the wider university experience. But despite this shared purpose, many feel the current feedback culture isn’t working as effectively as it should.
From students, we heard that:
- Feedback often feels like it disappears into a void.
- There’s a lack of visibility around what changes — if any — come from their input.
- Sometimes they’re not sure whether the things they care about can actually be changed.
From staff, we heard that:
- There’s a lack of clarity around expectations in student voice practices — from collecting feedback, to taking action, to communicating outcomes.
- Accountability is often limited, particularly when feedback relates to things outside an individual’s control, or when escalation routes are unclear.
- Student engagement with feedback mechanisms is low.
- The feedback received isn’t always constructive or actionable, which can make responding difficult.
Across the University, we found a wide variation in how Student Voice is organised, governed, and supported. Who leads these activities, how they are delivered, and what happens next all look very different across Schools.
Celebrating innovation — and making it visible
Despite these frustrations, there is also a huge amount of innovation happening across the University — as highlighted through this Student Voice in Practice series. Many teaching staff are trialing creative, informal ways to collect and respond to feedback in real time, leading to meaningful dialogue between students and staff. Professional services colleagues are developing tailored training and induction programmes for student representatives, or experimenting with new ways of communicating how feedback is acted upon.
However, these good practices are often localised. They aren’t always shared widely, and many colleagues have told us they’d welcome more opportunities to connect, learn, and build on what’s already working.
So, how do we support this, and make sure that all students feel their voices are heard, while also addressing the frustrations staff face in making feedback processes meaningful?
What’s next: A framework to strengthen Student Voice
Building on what we have learned, we are developing a Student Voice Framework. This won’t replace local approaches or everyday dialogue between staff and students — those remain at the heart of Student Voice. Instead, the framework will set expectations across formal mechanisms of capturing and responding to students’ voices;
- Clarifying roles and expectations – so staff and students know what’s expected of them across student voice processes.
- Providing practical tools – to support data collection, analysis, and communication of outcomes.
- Improving accountability –to ensure that actions are tracked and responsibilities are clearly defined.
- Enhancing communication – using tools like School newsletters and digital platforms to help students understand what’s changing and why.
The framework will draw on the local innovation and learning we’ve seen across the University, recognising and amplifying what’s already working through sharing good practice.
It will support the full feedback cycle: from collecting input; to analysing and acting on it; to communicating outcomes in a way that builds trust and transparency.
Our aim is simple: that every student — whether they are studying Medicine or Ancient History or Calculus and its Applications — know how they can give feedback, what will happen to it, and feel that their voices, are listened to, and valued, by all of us. And that both students and staff experience a feedback culture that feels meaningful, collaborative, and genuinely leads to change.
Marianne Brown
Marianne is Head of Academic Planning in Registry Services, with responsibility for Timetabling, Exams, and the Student Analytics, Insights, and Modelling Service. She co-leads the Student Voice Continuous Improvement User Group which works to enhance how student feedback is gathered and acted upon across the University.
