University of Nottingham partners with Explorance to improve student feedback analysis with AI

The University of Nottingham has adopted Explorance’s AI-powered MLY tool to improve the analysis of free-text comments in its student surveys.  The goal is to extract greater value from student feedback and enhance the university's approach to improving the student experience.

The university collects significant amounts of feedback through student surveys, but analyzing free-text responses has posed challenges due to limited resources.

Geyv Kathoke, Chief Business Intelligence Officer, highlighted the need for a better approach to handling survey data:

 “We are conscious that we survey our students a lot, so we wanted to find a way to make better use of the data we are gathering and maximize the value of every survey. The value we have not tapped into is the free-text elements of each survey, as we only have a very small dedicated team to do this work, and take any actions from it.”

The university plans to use MLY to analyze responses to National Student Survey (NSS)-aligned surveys for non-final-year students. These surveys, scheduled between February and April 2025, will include additional free-text questions about the overall university experience. MLY will help categorize these responses, enabling academic and support units to identify actionable insights more effectively.

“MLY will deepen our understanding of recurring challenges, including in thematic areas across the University and those in specific academic units, and support taking action and closing the feedback loop,” Kathoke explained. “It is helpful for us, through MLY, to have the ability to really understand what students are saying, rather than it being anecdotal.”

The AI tool’s adaptability allows it to be used for other surveys, such as the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey and the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey. MLY’s machine learning algorithms are specifically trained on higher education datasets, making the tool well-suited for academic feedback analysis.

Kathoke also pointed out MLY’s efficiency in processing large amounts of data. “Right now, we have around 24,000 undergraduate students, and 10 free-text questions per survey to analyze and classify. Traditionally this would have taken us weeks, and we can now do this in minutes. MLY means humans can do the added-value part – question design, talking to colleagues, advising and promoting best practice – rather than spending time analyzing.”

The university expects this investment in MLY to contribute to improvements in NSS scores, which are a key performance indicator.

John Atherton, VP Sales – EMEA at Explorance, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership:

 “We are really pleased to add the University of Nottingham to a fast-growing list of UK universities which have acquired MLY for AI-powered qualitative analysis of student feedback. MLY also won Gold in the AI in Education Award category at the QS Reimagine Education Awards last week. This is further endorsement of the quality of our solution.”