Studiebarometeret – higher education

2024

  • Studiebarometeret 2023 – Main trends

    Summary

    The Student Survey (Studiebarometeret) was conducted for the eleventh time in autumn 2023, and approximately 29,000 students responded to the questionnaire. The survey covers virtually all Norwegian universities and university colleges, including a total of around 1,900 study programmes.

    Students are more positive about their study programmes than they were last year
    Overall, students are satisfied with their study programme. In 2022, we saw that students were somewhat less satisfied with their study programmes than in previous years. In 2023, however, the results were back to pre-2022 levels. At the subject field level, the secondary education teacher (lector) and primary school teacher programmes stand out negatively. Here, students are generally much less satisfied than they are in other programme types. At the same time, the majority of students are still satisfied with their study programme in these programmes as well.

    We see the greatest improvement in results for the questions on the organisation of the study programme, and the questions about information, and contact with, the labour market representatives
    Compared with 2022, there is no negative development in any of the topics covered by the questionnaire. In several areas, we see improvement from last year. In 2023, students are more positive about the organisation of the study programme than they were in 2022. The same applies to the questions about information and contact with the labour market. When it comes to the questions about contact with the labour market (e.g. thorough industry representatives), 2023 sees the highest item scores since the questions were first introduced in 2019. Although there is only a slight positive improvement compared with 2019, it may be that the focus on this topic in the Student Survey over several years has had a positive impact on the results.

    The social learning environment has improved somewhat and is close to the level it was at before the pandemic
    During the pandemic, we saw a decline in satisfaction with the social learning environment. In 2022, this improved somewhat, and in 2023 we see further improvement. Student satisfaction with this aspect of their student experience is approaching the level it was at in the years before the pandemic (2019 and previous years). However, students are somewhat still less satisfied with the social environment between students in the study programme than they were up to and including 2019.

    From a long-term perspective, students attending full-time programmes still spend a considerable amount of time on paid work alongside their studies
    In both 2021 and 2022, students' self-reported time spent on paid work increased. The estimates have not increased further in 2023 but appears to have stabilised at the same level as in 2022. The results from 2023 thus reinforce what we found in 2022. While the average student on full-time programmes spent 8 hours a week on paid work in the years 2017 to 2020, the number of hours has increased to 9.3 in 2023. The increase is likely due to more students being in employment, and students in employment working more hours than before. Two likely reasons for the increase are the low unemployment and high inflation that has characterised Norwegian society in both 2022 and 2023. In 2023, however, we also see a small further decline in total academic time spent. Over time, this has decreased from 34.9 hours in 2017 to 33.0 hours in 2023.

    New questions show that students at different campuses and programme types vary with regard to what is important to them when choosing a place of study and study programme
    In 2023, we added some new questions about the perceived importance of different factors when choosing a place of study and a study programme. When it comes to choosing a place of study, it is clear that the different institutions, and campuses, have different compositions of students. While a majority of students at some campuses believe that proximity to their hometown and friends and family is important, a higher proportion of students at other campuses believe that an attractive social study environment is important. These locations may also have a high proportion of students from other parts of the country who consider it important to change environment or move from their hometown. We also see some campuses that attract students because they offer programmes that are not available elsewhere, or that are only available in a few places. For the majority of the locations, however, there is great variation in what students consider important when choosing a place of study.

    Academic interest is clearly the most important factor for students when choosing a study programme. This is consistent across all programme types. In some programme types, academic interest is the only thing that is of significant importance, while in other programme types, students are just as concerned with career opportunities as they are with academic interest. In some fields, it also appears that many programmes are designed for students who are working alongside their studies. Here we also see that some students use the programme to retrain for a new profession.

    The use of artificial intelligence varies greatly between different disciplines and types of education programmes
    This year, we also included some questions about the extent of and type of use of artificial intelligence (AI). Overall, 60 % of students report that they have used AI in their studies, while 40 % have not. Students studying natural sciences and technical subjects and business and administration are the most frequent users of AI, while students in humanities and health, social and sports subjects use AI the least. Younger students also use AI significantly more than older students. When it comes to what students use AI for, the most common use is to explain topics, syllabus, concepts, terminology, etc. Of the range of uses that students were given to select from, the fewest selected that they used AI to generate audio, images or video.

    Authors: Magnus Strand Hauge, Kristoffer Fretland Øygarden

    Read the report (in Norwegian)