News

OUSA’s 2013 student survey has found positive attitudes towards all services provided by OUSA. The services surveyed were the Student Support Centre, the Recreation Centre, OUSA Events, Student Job Search, Critic, Radio One, and Campaigns Representation by the Executive.

79.85 per cent of respondents were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with OUSA services overall, with 2,043 students responding to the survey.

Critic was the most widely-used service, followed by Events. Events are responsible for the likes of Orientation Week, Capping Show and the so-called Craft Beer Festival. Critic was used “very often” or “often” by 55.4 per cent of respondents, while Events was used to the same degree by 44.17 per cent of respondents. Critic and Events also topped the user satisfaction ratings, with 27.07 per cent “very satisfied” with Events and 26.60 per cent “very satisfied” with Critic.

The audit of OUSA, carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and released last week, showed that 2012 Events expenditure was $206,450. The Planet Media subsidy, which underwrites both Critic and Radio One, was $172,000. Both were far outstripped by the Recreation Centre, which cost OUSA approximately $600,000.

Interestingly, such services as the Student Support Centre, Radio One, and Campaigns Representation, which are not as widely used as other services, were still regarded as important by respondents.

There was a demographic skew towards female respondents. However, when responses were controlled for gender it was found that feedback varied only minimally. There was also a demographic skew towards first-year students, who made up 27.07 per cent of respondents, despite numbering only 19 per cent of total students. These first-year students were found to be about five per cent more positive than other year groups, all of whom were consistent in their feedback.