SUCCEED – A Digital Transformation of StudentSurvey.ie Data Use at MTU

SUCCEED (Standardising the Use, Communication and Capability of StudentSurvey.ie Data) ran from November 2020 to December 2023, transforming how student feedback is accessed and acted upon across MTU. Its aim was to address the underuse of StudentSurvey.ie data by creating a robust, standardised digital reporting framework. Using R and supporting digital tools, SUCCEED generated 49 customised reports each year for departments, schools, and faculties, enabling units track participation, compare indicator scores, and identify year-on-year trends. Outcomes included evidence that supported a DELTA Award success in 2023 (with three further teams currently preparing submissions), staff using insights to secure local enhancement funding, and replication of the SUCCEED framework for MTU’s Responsible Conduct of Research survey (2022, 2024). SUCCEED was highlighted in MTU’s 2025 QQI Annual Quality Report as a case study of good practice. Recognition from NStEP, the HEA, and Advance HE underscored its impact as a sector-leading digital transformation initiative.

SATLE priority area: Digital Transformation

Context and key activities

SUCCEED (Standardising the Use, Communication and Capability of studEntSurvEy.ie Data) was launched in late 2020 through Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) 2020 funding. SUCCEED’s goal was to transform how student feedback collected through StudentSurvey.ie, the Irish National Survey of Student Engagement, was accessed and used across the university to create actionable insights, amplify the student voice and drive improvements in teaching, learning, assessment, and student engagement (TLASE).

Since its inception, StudentSurvey.ie has gathered feedback from over 350,000 students nationally, creating a valuable national dataset of student experience. From an institutional perspective each year until 2023, StudentSurvey.ie produced a national summary of survey results together with high-level institutional reports. However, to interpret these results effectively, they needed contextualisation using institution-specific information to understand what students were saying. Therefore, despite the valuable insights offered by StudentSurvey.ie, three key challenges historically hindered its impact at an institutional level:

1. Limited Accessibility and Interpretation of Data: The raw survey data lacked structured, standardised reporting at the programme and academic unit levels, making it difficult to interpret trends and implement meaningful interventions.
2. Low Response Rates and Generalisability Issues: Insufficient student participation meant that some datasets had high margins of error, limiting their usability in informing programme-level decision-making.
3. Fragmented Data Utilisation:ie data often remained siloed within institutional reports rather than being directly accessible and actionable for academic staff.

Hence, TLASE improvement opportunities based on real student feedback were often missed. SUCCEED was designed to address this need by creating a digital, standardised, reproducible way of transforming survey data into evidence that academic units could easily interpret and act on.

SUCCEED was led by the TLU and AnSEO and supported by the Research Integrity & Compliance Officer, the Department of Mathematics and the Students’ Union. This structure bridged MTU’s staff-facing and student-facing functions so that the student voice could directly inform enhancement activity. StudentSurvey.ie indicators were mapped against core TLU and AnSEO TLASE enhancement programmes ensuring that data interpretation connected naturally to the relevant supports available – an approach that has been recognised nationally and internationally as distinctive and has informed practice elsewhere in the sector.

Between November 2020 and December 2023, SUCCEED evolved from a focused collaboration to improve access to StudentSurvey.ie data into an institution-wide digital-transformation initiative providing reports and supports to every department, school, and faculty across MTU. Using R for data processing and statistical analysis, mail-merge technology for tailored dissemination, and a dedicated online hub on the TLU website, the SUCCEED team created a complete digital reporting pipeline that turned complex data into clear, meaningful outputs for every academic unit.

From the outset, the SUCCEED team placed strong emphasis on engagement and capacity building. In addition to report delivery, over 20 structured consultations – known as SUCCEED Meetings – were held with academic unit leads to interpret findings and identify targeted actions. These coaching-based sessions used the programme mapping and reports as catalysts for reflection on curriculum design, workload balance, and student-support strategies. To build longer-term capability, online resources were created to help staff interpret indicators independently, including guidance on confidence intervals and examples of how to embed data insights in programme planning. This approach shifted SUCCEED from being a data-reporting project to becoming a university-wide capacity-building framework that strengthened digital literacy and evidence-informed decision-making.

By the end of 2023, SUCCEED had fully achieved its objectives. It delivered a digital-first reporting process that was standardised, scalable and sustainable. Forty-nine reports were produced annually for departments, schools, and faculties, each containing local response rates, margins of error and indicator trends from 2016 to 2023. For many academic units, it was the first time they had seen their own unit’s data presented in such an accessible and visual form. Furthermore, over twenty departments engaged directly with SUCCEED consultations; and staff feedback confirmed tangible benefits. One Head of Department described the data as “a Godsend” that allowed their team to identify weaknesses in student transitions and successfully apply for enhancement funding to address it. The framework was also adapted for MTU’s Responsible Conduct of Research Surveys (2022 and 2024) is informing the approach to data analysis and reporting within MTU’s Technological Sector Advancement Fund-(TSAF) funded MTU Ready project, demonstrating its versatility and continued institutional relevance.

Several challenges emerged; response rates and small sample sizes occasionally limited the reliability of results. To ensure responsible use, each report clearly displayed its margin of error and guidance on interpretation. Some staff initially viewed survey data as peripheral; this was addressed by making reports concise, visually engaging, and directly relevant to departmental priorities. Time constraints were mitigated by automation – once the R scripts were established, annual updates required minimal manual input. SUCCEED’s reporting system was developed and is maintained entirely within MTU, with all analytical code and templates embedded in TLU systems, ensuring sustainability.

Strategic alignment with national policies and relevant SATLE priority area

SUCCEED delivered Digital Transformation (DT) by replacing manual, time-intensive processes for analysing and interpreting StudentSurvey.ie data with a fully automated, standardised, and reproducible reporting process. Using R for data processing, statistical analysis and visualisation, mail-merge for personalised dissemination, and a dedicated online hub on the TLU website supported by Teams/Zoom meetings, SUCCEED digitised the feedback cycle – from data processing to distribution and interpretation – across academic units.

This work supports SATLE’s DT priority, advancing institutional policy and practice for digital and open learning. Building on Next Steps for Teaching and Learning: Moving Forward Together (2021) and the Guide to Developing Enabling Policies for Digital and Open Teaching and Learning (2018), SUCCEED provides the digital infrastructure that supports evidence-based practice. The programme standardises how StudentSurvey.ie feedback is analysed and communicated, ensuring TLASE decisions are informed by reliable, accessible data. SUCCEED supports a culture of data-informed enhancement and continuous improvement responding to the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, which calls on institutions to establish systems that capture and use student feedback to inform development.

At institutional level, SUCCEED aligns with MTU’s Strategic Plan 2023–2028, which emphasises TLASE excellence to support student success, and a culture of evidence-informed enhancement. By embedding a reproducible, automated approach to analysing and communicating survey data, SUCCEED strengthens MTU’s commitment to using data and technology to enhance the student experience and support faculty in evidence-informed, digitally enabled practice.

A key outcome has been the establishment of a consistent, digitally enabled reporting practice. Faculty who previously relied on high-level summaries now receive standardised visual reports presenting indicator results with confidence intervals, enabling clear year-on-year and cross-unit comparison. The inclusion of margins of error as a standard feature has strengthened institutional understanding of data reliability and encouraged responsible interpretation. The SUCCEED framework has already been applied to MTU’s Responsible Conduct of Research Surveys (2022, 2024) and is informing the development of data analysis and reporting in MTU’s TSAF-funded MTU Ready project, demonstrating its versatility and wider application.

SUCCEED also contributes to national and international collaboration and capacity building in student engagement. Its structured framework – combining automated and standardised reporting, the mapping of institutional supports to StudentSurvey.ie indicators, and the coaching and mentoring approach to engagement with academic units – has attracted attention as an example of good practice in using student feedback to drive enhancement. The approach has been shared through NStEP, the HEA and Advance HE, each recognising the value of SUCCEED in helping institutions respond to survey findings and strengthen student progression and success. Inclusion of SUCCEED as a case study in MTU’s QQI Annual Quality Report (AQR) 2025 is further evidence of national recognition; from 88 case studies submitted nationally, SUCCEED was one of 10 selected by QQI for presentation at its upcoming Quality in Higher Education event in December 2025. Reflecting this impact, SUCCEED’ s project lead, Linda O’Sullivan, was invited to chair the StudentSurvey.ie Analysis and Impact Group, extending SUCCEED’s influence to sector-level data practice and leadership in evidence-informed enhancement.

Innovation in specified SATLE priority area

SUCCEED demonstrates innovation in DT through the development of a digital, standardised, reproducible process that turns survey data into clear, actionable insights, making institutional data genuinely useful for TLASE enhancement. SUCCEED reimagined how StudentSurvey.ie feedback is processed, interpreted, and acted upon, transforming a largely manual, inconsistent practice into a consistent and scalable system for evidence-informed decision-making.

A key innovation was the introduction of a standardised reporting template built in R that automatically generated customised reports for every department, school, and faculty. Each report applied identical logic, ensuring consistency and comparability while incorporating response rates and margins of error. This change to a consistent, reproducible reporting approach transformed how student survey data was accessed and used to inform enhancement across the university.

The project also focused on ensuring that reports were understandable and useful in practice. Each report was tailored for its intended audience and distributed through mail-merge technology. To support staff in interpreting their results, the SUCCEED team offered optional meetings with academic units and created short explanatory videos hosted on an online hub on the TLU website (https://tlu.cit.ie/succeed-reports).

Another important innovation lay in building staff confidence in using data. Through SUCCEED meetings and online resources, staff developed a clearer understanding of response rates, margins of error, survey indicators, confidence intervals and how to apply findings to local enhancement activity, contributing to a gradual shift towards more evidence-informed enhancement practice.

The design also proved transferable. The SUCCEED framework has been applied to MTU’s Responsible Conduct of Research Surveys (2022, 2024) and is now being adopted within the TSAF-funded MTU Ready project, demonstrating the adaptability of the SUCCEED approach.

Finally, SUCCEED’s innovation lies in how it helps to close the feedback loop between students and the university. By providing clear, comparable evidence of the student experience, academic units can identify priorities for action, enhance teaching and support practices, and monitor progress over time. The reports have also become a valuable resource for academic teams preparing DELTA Award applications through MTU’s SATLE-funded DELTA support initiative (2023-25), through which teams are actively encouraged to use their SUCCEED data as part of their reflective and planning process. Academic units can also engage with students through AnSEO’s Le Chéile Student/Staff Partnership Programme to co-design initiatives emerging from their SUCCEED reports and consultations. In this way, SUCCEED continues to strengthen evidence-based enhancement across the university, turning student feedback into practical insight that drives improvement and partnership-based enhancement across MTU.

Outcomes

Impact

Before SUCCEED, StudentSurvey.ie results were produced annually but often remained at institutional level, limiting their usefulness for individual departments and programme teams. Between 2022 and 2023, 49 customised reports were issued each year to every MTU department, school, and faculty, providing for the first time unit-level visibility of student experience data. Each report applied the same logic and format, enabling meaningful comparisons across disciplines and over time.

Heads of Department emphasised how valuable it was to have access to their own data. Comments included, “This data is a God send!” and “I have been asked to promote StudentSurvey.ie each year since I joined MTU, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen our department’s data”, while another noted that insights from their SUCCEED report helped identify student transitions as an area for improvement for which they later secured funding to enhance supports. These responses illustrate how SUCCEED made StudentSurvey.ie data visible and actionable locally, enabling faculty to make evidence-based TLASE decisions.

The accessibility of SUCCEED data has created new opportunities for evidence-informed TLASE enhancement discussions. Academic units are using their reports to consider themes such as student engagement, student-staff interaction, and collaborative learning as part of local reflection. The evidence base generated by SUCCEED directly supported the 2023 National Forum DELTA Award achieved by the Sport & Leisure team from MTU’s Department of Sport, Leisure and Childhood Studies which cited SUCCEED insights as a key component of its submission. Three further academic teams are preparing DELTA applications using their SUCCEED data as part of the reflective process supported through MTU’s SATLE-funded DELTA Support Initiative (2023–25).

Staff involved in SUCCEED meetings and follow-up discussions gained a clearer understanding of how to interpret StudentSurvey.ie indicators and apply findings in local enhancement planning. The explanatory videos on the TLU website clarified key terms such as margins of error and confidence intervals. Although still in early stages, this work is helping to build a shared language for discussing student experience. The automated reporting process has also reduced the manual effort required to analyse and report on data each year, allowing more time for reflection and action.

For students, the principal benefit lies in helping close the feedback loop. Departments can now demonstrate how StudentSurvey.ie findings influence TLASE related decisions, increasing transparency and trust in institutional processes. Students who participate in the Le Chéile Student/Staff Partnership Programme can co-design small projects emerging from SUCCEED consultations, ensuring that enhancement actions are informed by both data and dialogue.

At institutional level, MTU’s StudentSurvey.ie results improved between 2021 and 2023 by 28% for Quality of Interactions, 24% for Student-Faculty Interaction and 10% for Collaborative Learning. While many factors contribute to these gains, SUCCEED has helped embed a more consistent, data-informed approach to TLASE enhancement across the university.

The SUCCEED reporting and analysis approach has been successfully reused for MTU’s Responsible Conduct of Research Surveys (2022, 2024) and is informing the emerging reporting model for MTU’s TSAF-funded MTU Ready project supporting student transition and success. These applications demonstrate the SUCCEED framework can extend beyond StudentSurvey.ie to other TLASE-related datasets. Going forward, there is potential to embed the use of such data more formally within quality assurance and review processes, enabling academic units to interpret findings, act on them and close the feedback loop to support joined-up, evidence-based TLASE enhancement across MTU.

SUCCEED featured as a good-practice case in MTU’s 2025 QQI Annual Quality Report, highlighting its contribution to embedding data-driven enhancement processes. From 88 case studies submitted nationally as part of this process, SUCCEED was one of 10 selected by QQI for presentation at the Quality in Higher Education event (December 2025) providing national visibility for MTU’s approach.

Across the sector, SUCCEED has been shared through presentations and invitations from NStEP, the HEA and Advance HE, each recognising its value as an example of good practice in using student feedback for TLASE enhancement. In recognition of this work, SUCCEED’s project lead, Linda O’Sullivan, was invited by the HEA to chair the National StudentSurvey.ie Analysis and Impact Group (2025), positioning MTU to contribute directly to sector-wide conversations on data use and impact.

SUCCEED’s automated reporting process continues to be maintained within TLU and AnSEO without additional SATLE funding. This sustained delivery ensures that the benefits achieved through the project’s digital transformation are preserved and continue to inform enhancement activity beyond the initial project cycle. Although the national StudentSurvey.ie was paused after 2023 to allow for a strategic review, SUCCEED’s reporting infrastructure remains in place and ready to adapt to the reintroduced survey in 2026. This represents an opportunity to build on SUCCEED’s foundations and strengthen institutional capacity for data-driven enhancement. To realise this potential, ongoing institutional support and dedicated resourcing will be key to maintaining and evolving SUCCEED as a sustainable university-wide framework for evidence-informed TLASE practice.