Organisation of the TU Student Survey

How is the TU Student Survey organised? What questions are asked and how can students participate? How can departments contribute their own questions and how can they benefit from doing so? You find the answers here.

Embedding the TU Student Survey

The TU Student Survey focuses on the development of study programmes.

The TU Student Survey provides information from the student perspective, on the basis of which study programmes can be further developed in a targeted manner. The survey, which was developed by the university, asks students about their assessments of study programmes, study conditions and learning experiences during their studies.

The results are combined with other data and used for the development of study programmes within the framework of institutional evaluation as well as for university strategic decisions.

The TU Student Survey takes place every two years in the summer semester. All students of the TU Darmstadt (Bachelor, Master, Teaching degrees) are invited to participate in the survey.

A steering committee has been set up for the “TU Student Survey”. Its task is to make joint decisions for the project and to provide advice and recommendations.

Members of the TU Student Survey Steering Committee are:

Prof. Dr. Heribert Warzecha (Vice President, Academic Affairs and Diversity, principal), Sascha Strack (inQM, Dez I Ref. IB), Gerhard Schmitt (Dez. II, Data Protection Officer), Beate Kriegler (Dez. II, Ref. IID), Tobias Blank (HDA)

Coordination Office

In order to avoid multiple surveys and to keep the survey burden on students as low as possible, the Center for Educational Development and Technology (HDA) was also commissioned to design a coordination office .

The primary goal of this is to coordinate further surveys at the TU Darmstadt with the TU student survey so as not to endanger the latter's response, to systematically bundle the various activities and actors in the field of surveys and to strategically relate them to the TU Darmstadt's integrated quality management.

The main stakeholders and primary users of the TU Student Survey are…

  • The students
    They provide data and benefit from the results, which flow into study programme development and quality assurance and also influence university-wide decisions.
  • The departments (e.g. deans of studies, study coordinators, managing directors)
  • Committee members and student representatives
  • Division I – Department IB Quality Management and Committees
  • Division II – Unit IID Study Programmes and Quality Assurance
  • University management (including Vice-President Academic Affairs and Diversity)

The HDA is commissioned with the conception and implementation of the central TU student survey. This also includes the preparation of results that are made available to the different user groups as well as their advice and support in using the results.

Topics of the TU student survey

Topic block Includes questions on:
Sociodemographic Data Age, gender, university entrance qualification, nationality, vocational training, etc.
Information about the Studies Intended degree, field of study or major, program, semester count, university semester
Admission Requirements Previous educational background and qualifications, awareness before starting studies, etc.
Living situation Caring for children or relatives, employment
Study Conditions & Feasibility Use and evaluation of services at the beginning of studies, counseling and support services, infrastructure, international mobility, program structure and module design, organization of studies and exams, teaching quality, interdisciplinarity, practical and research references, offerings in English, study demands
Digital Teaching Evaluation of e-learning offerings used, digital elements in teaching
Study Behavior Knowledge of study and examination regulations, delays in studies, importance of studies, motivation and learning experiences
Academic Success Study satisfaction, alignment of expectations and experiences, personal development, intention to drop out, transition from Bachelor to Master
Diversity aspects migration background and parents educational background ('first-generation' students)

Benefit from your own questions in the TU Student Survey!

Did you know that you can individualise the TU Student Survey specifically for your subject or study area? Up to 10 of your own questions can be included, which will be developed together with the HDA.

We will be happy to get in touch with you!

The most important thing is to get a high level of participation and thus the most meaningful results possible.

You reach your students most effectively. Please also use your own communication channels (mailing lists, screens, social media etc.) during the advertising phase and support us in the university-wide advertising campaign (distribute flyers, put up posters etc.). We are happy to support you and supply advertising material for your platforms, for example.

After completion of the field phase of the TU Student Survey, a quality control and data cleaning of the collected data takes place.

Subsequently, the university-wide results, a methodology report and the raw data will be published as a volume of tables.

This is followed by the preparation of the departmental reports about 4 months after the survey is completed.

The preparation of the departmental reports follows a schedule agreed with the steering committee of the TU Student Survey. The reports are produced roughly in the period from November to April. This is followed by special analyses.

Why should I take part in the survey?

Take the opportunity to give your feedback on the study situation and the development potential of your degree programme and the service facilities. The larger and broader the participation across all degree programmes is, the more representative the statements that can be made based on the results will be. These results are used at the TU Darmstadt to further develop studying and teaching and to improve the study conditions.

Participation in the survey gives you the opportunity to express your opinion on the topics asked for. Free-text information will also be made available to the departments and study areas in anonymised reports.

Every voice counts.

Analyses can only be prepared for degree programmes in which a sufficient number of students have participated. Therefore, every single completed questionnaire is really important!

After each survey, the departments and study areas are provided with result reports with evaluations of the individual study programmes. The results then influence the quality assurance processes and thus improve studies, teaching and the general study conditions.

The TU Student Survey is conducted every two years in the summer semester.

Then, at the start of the survey, all students enrolled at TU Darmstadt (Bachelor's, Master's and teaching) automatically receive an invitation to participate in the TU Student Survey during a certain period of time.

For this purpose, we send an email to your student email address (“Stud-address”) with a link to the survey and a personal TAN. This personal TAN is assigned automatically and does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about you as an individual.

Where can results be accessed?

Download the university-wide results or further documents on the survey, such as the methods reports and the questionnaire .

The departments and study areas receive results reports and table volumes in which all results are made available.

The contact person for students who are interested in the results in their subject or study area is the respective dean of studies.

Together with the reports, recommendations for action on how to deal with the results are also sent out, which recommend, among other things, that the department or study area communicate the results to the students.

This can be done, for example, via departmental committees or workshops on selected topics with student representatives or a selection of interested students.

The university (e.g. departments, student representatives) also has the option of requesting special evaluations from the HDA on various topics.