Student Survey 23/24: Reflection and Response

The Annual Student Survey is available for you to read on the UST website. We are grateful for the hard work put into collecting and compiling the information in this survey. This is done by students, so that your voices can be clearly heard. Thanks to every student who took the time to respond. As a school, we want to take time to reflect on what has been indicated in the answers to the questions. This brief response will give an indication of how we are continuing to grow in and develop in order to serve our students well. We do this because we value each student and we want them to know that they are part of the whole Union family. We do this in the light of our Union values. As we delight in God, we want to grow in Christ together so that we may serve His church and His world well.

We are pleased to note that overall level of student satisfaction remains very high. Students are very enthusiastic about what they are learning. The section on the survey focussing on personal growth is illuminating and encouraging. Students are growing academically, personally, spiritually and in ministry.

We are also encouraged to note that the new improved application process has paid dividends in making the whole process easier to understand and to administer. The organisation and management of the school continues to be effective and students are benefitting from further developments in the design of the cloud and module pages.

Students greatly value their interaction with fellow students, mentors, lecturers and the team here in Bridgend. We do note how challenging this can be as such a high percentage of students never meet each other in person. There are lots of advantages from local theological training close to home and to church, but we want to keep on building deeper and richer relational links across UST. Students, faculty, mentors and the whole Union family can work together to make these grow.

One item which came out clearly from the survey this year concerns how we can better support female students. We plan to review our processes across the school and consider how we can further resource this aspect of our ministry.

There are other areas for thought and action arising from the survey. For example:

• We will continue to work on our assignment feedback as a learning resource for students.

• While the cloud is vastly improved compared with 3 or 4 years ago, we acknowledge that we need to continue to work on accessibility and signposting so that students can access our excellent resources easily.

• As the application process is now working very well, we need to work on our student orientation and induction. This will probably mean more guidance videos, but we want to keep some opportunity to meet students in person.

We give thanks to The Lord for all His help and provision and look to Him to enable us to serve Him in the years ahead. It is a delight to see the work He is doing in UST.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow…Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Paul Spear

Pastoral Dean

May 2024