The Transnational & Distance Education Barometer™
The TDB tracks and compares the decision-making, expectations and perceptions of students studying remotely or transnationally, from application to graduation. It provides unprecedented comparative insights by nationality, subject
and mode of study.
What is the Transnational & Distance Education Barometer?
The TDB is an online survey created specifically as a confidential feedback process for remote learners and as a confidential indicator of satisfaction for educators. Results are tracked over time and compared across locations, against relevant indices of offshore study, distance learning and where appropriate, traditional on-campus provision. While the core questions are standardised to enable benchmarking, the survey is customised to reflect your organisational structure, your requirements and your identity.
For transnational classroom-based study, the process is owned and directed either by the awarding institution or the partner institution, depending on the specific needs and objectives of the primary client. The survey covers key aspects of the student experience including decisionmaking, application and communication, learning, support and advice,
recommendations and future plans. For classroom or campus-based students, the survey also addresses the living
experience. For distance learners, the survey covers personal circumstances such as employment status, dependents,
and organisation of personal study.
Whatever form of transnational or distance education you provide, whether franchised, twinned, traditional, online or supported distance learning, the TDB should be a core component of your strategy.
How can the TDB directly benefit you?
The TDB gives you feedback from your transnational and distance learning students on their experiences and what matters most to them. The findings can be used to inform your recruitment and retention strategies, review all aspects of the remote or offshore student experience and deploy resources more effectively.
With the TDB you will be able to compare over 50 independent measures of the student experience between locations and
against international indices including, where appropriate, comparison with the traditional on-campus experience. Over time, you will be able to measure the impact of changes and interventions made. Most importantly, the TDB provides an independently verified measure of student perceptions of the quality of provision.
With increasing regulation, validation, accreditation and quality assurance factors, the TDB signals your commitment
to quality and independent reporting. As a way of identifying problems and student concerns, the TDB acts as an early
warning system of reputation risk; alerting you to issues that students will be sharing with others anyway.
What you can expect to receive
You will receive bespoke survey results covering all relevant aspects of the student experience, benchmarked and ranked against agreed indices, plus searchable student comments.
You will receive:
• Personalised online survey development, launch and hosting, plus all administration
• Detailed analysis by discipline, level of study and nationality
• Results benchmarked against competitor groups, national and international indices
• A full set of verbatim comments from your students in a searchable format, sorted by nationality or field of study.
Personal details are removed to ensure confidentiality
• A face-to-face presentation or a webcast report-back from a senior member of the i-graduate team, highlighting
important issues, insights and results
• Aggregated responses from all participating institutions to provide you with a substantive insight into the global
picture. Delivered in the form of an interactive map of the world, you can explore which students are most satisfied, how decision-making and influences differ by nationality and the spread of expectations and intentions for transnational and distance learning students benchmarked against traditional students
Adopting the TDB means you derive greater value, year on year.
How you can take part
• You start by completing a simple registration form
• Your personal account manager will send a welcome email and a time-line. The account manager will then be on hand throughout the process to answer your queries
• We provide a simple form for you to complete which enables us to personalise the survey instrument to reflect the terminology and characteristics of your accommodation options, campuses, faculties, departments, schools and support
services
• There is also the option to include additional questions at a nominal cost. To enable benchmarking and comparison, core elements are pre-set
• Prior to the launch, you receive a link to your customised online questionnaire, which you distribute via email to your
students. We will provide suggested email copy to maximise the response rate
• The i-graduate research team manages and monitors all data collection and analysis, reporting back in confidence
against your agreed benchmarks and indices
For more information please contact jamie.taylor@i-graduate.org