Student Evaluation of Course and Teaching (SECaT) surveys and Student Evaluation of Tutors (SETutor)

The SECaT and SETutor surveys use standardised questionnaires, which are formally reviewed and revised by the University’s Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Committee (TLSEC).

No personalised or customised questions may be added to SECaT and SETutor surveys. 

Refer to Section 9 of the Procedure for the list of SECaT and SETutor questions. 

For SECaT surveys

SECaT surveys are administered for every course with 5 or more (≥5) enrolments each time it is taught, and for every teacher with a Threshold Teaching Load (defined in Section 8 of the Procedure) on a course entered in UQ’s curriculum management system (i.e. Jac). 

For SETutor surveys

SETutor surveys are administered at the course level with 5 or more (≥ 5) enrolments, as 1 SETutor evaluation per Tutor (defined in Section 8 of the Procedure), per course. This includes where the Tutor delivers multiple tutorials/laboratories across different modes of instruction for one course. 

SECaT and SETutor surveys will not be generated for courses with fewer than 5 students enrolled.

If your course has fewer than 5 students, refer to the Assuring and Enhancing Course and Teaching Quality Guideline for a list of informal student feedback tools to solicit feedback from students. These tools allow for customised question sets.

Data collected via these tools are only for your own personal feedback, and will not be reported via formal mechanisms (e.g. UQ Reportal) or shown in your Individual Academic Profile (IAP).

SECaT surveys for courses with multiple delivery modes can also be merged if one mode has fewer than 5 enrolments. Course coordinators can email their survey merger requests to evaluations@uq.edu.au by the semester’s Census date.

Increasing response rate

Listen to how other UQ teaching staff improve their SECaT response rate

Listen to how other UQ teaching staff encourage constructive student feedback

It's good practice to encourage your students to participate by doing the following before and during the evaluation period:

• Give notice that online evaluation will begin soon (e.g. inform students to check their student email accounts on the week that evaluations open, and the ‘Have Your Say’ module on the welcome page of Blackboard).
• Tell students why evaluations are conducted and what they're used for. You can use the promotion slide with QR code (PPTX, 322.4 KB).
• Set aside class time for students to use their own device to complete the evaluation. Academics that use this approach have been found to achieve higher response rates than those who don't set aside class time.

Communicating with students

Communicate the following message to your students:

Staff will receive an email with their evaluation report following the official release date of final grades each semester, as specified in the UQ academic calendar.

Consider looking at the SECaT Reading Tips (PDF, 116.2 KB) before opening your evaluation reports.

To protect confidentiality, evaluation reports will only be distributed when a single survey meets the reportable data threshold (5 or more (≥5) responses). Where there are fewer than 5 responses, no numerical analysis and/or comments will be disclosed in evaluation reports.

SECaT and SETutor results are also accessible via UQ Reportal. If you require access to UQ Reportal, submit a request using the online form.

Links to the various SECaT reports that are available to download from UQ Reportal are provided on the SECaT course and teaching reports webpage.

How to access and print your reports

• Instructions for SECaT course reports (PDF, 338.3 KB)
• Instructions for SECaT teaching reports (PDF, 291.5 KB)
• Instructions for SECaT details reports (PDF, 335 KB)

Sample reports

• Example SECaT course report (PDF, 47.3 KB)
• Example SECaT teaching report (PDF, 47.7 KB)
• Example SECaT details report (PDF, 905.1 KB)
• Example SETutor report (PDF, 45.5 KB)

Quantitative results of all course evaluations from 2015 to the current semester are also available for staff and students to view.

The process for redacting or removing student comments is outlined in Paragraph 37 to 38 of the Procedure. 

Evaluation data and student confidentiality

The University will ensure that all data is collected and managed in accordance with University policies and relevant privacy laws, including the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld).

UQ is not to provide information that will identify a student who responds to the SECaT or SETutor survey unless required elsewhere in the Procedure or by law.

The identity of students remains confidential within SSET. Student identities are not disclosed to individual staff.

Students are requested not to self-identify and student identities remain confidential and are not released to teaching staff. However, if the student does self-identify, teaching staff are not to contact individual students about their responses to SECaT and/or SETutor surveys.

Refer to the Procedure for more details.

For any enquiries regarding the SECaT and SETutor surveys, please contact the UQ Student Surveys and Evaluations Team (SSET): evaluations@uq.edu.au