What UK universities have done to bolster student review numbers in preparation for the WUSCAs

On the 21st of May 2025 universities will once again gather for the annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs), the only higher education awards ceremony in the UK where institutions are judged and reviewed by students themselves across various categories.  This annual event is a celebration of the student voice and the hard work of higher education providers across the UK to deliver exceptional student experiences. 

For the months leading up to the big day, universities from around the UK play their part in encouraging students to complete student reviews. These will ultimately form the foundation of the WUSCAs awards, determining which universities are shortlisted, all driven by the student voice.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the student voice to be heard, gain insight into what truly matters to students, and ultimately enhance student satisfaction in the upcoming year.   

The 28th of February is the deadline for students on your campus to submit their reviews to count towards WUSCAs 2025. With limited time left, we spoke to several universities who successfully participated in the review collection process leading up to WUSCAs 2024 to find out how they boosted student participation.

Raymond Miller, Civic Engagement Officer at Queens University Belfast, said, “The key to success was explaining the importance of the reviews to those who I asked to promote it. This allowed them to understand why we were doing it and meant that they bought in to the process.” 

Methods of collection that worked:  

• Contacted the university-wide ‘Plasma Screens on Campus’ group. They displayed the survey on screens all across campus but importantly in two key areas, the main library and the student centre 

• Contacted the social media team. While there is a policy around surveys which means they can’t promote a survey directly, they agreed to promote it on one Instagram story before and after Christmas 

•  QUB wrote to their 200 student ambassadors and asked them to complete a review 

•  The survey was listed as a news item on their internal student system known as Queen’s Online. Students use this to access emails, find out about events, look at their timetable etc. The survey sits as a constant news item within Queen’s Online 

• The student comms team put out an all student email. This meant the survey was able to hit the inbox of around 20k students 

Meeting with internal stakeholders:  

• Our Associate Head of Client Success, Jon Montgomerie, delivered a session to multiple functions and stakeholders at the university 

• The session included details on our methodology, the value of the WUSCAs, performance over time for Portsmouth, alongside real student feedback on how to enhance the student experience at the University of Portsmouth (based on 2023 reviews). The session finished with recommendations on how to ensure 2024 review collection cycle is a success.  

Dave Gibbs, the former Digital Marketing Account Manager at the University of Portsmouth, who has since left this role, said at the time of this interview, "We emailed our students with information around Whatuni and how it was an opportunity to have their say about the university and their course. We received 391 reviews in the first week after sending this out, which was more than enough to hit our minimum threshold for the WUSCAs.”  

Methods of collection so far:  

• An email was sent to all students the day before a visit from the Whatuni’s review collection team to let them know the team would be collecting reviews  

• A week later, Whatuni assets were uploaded to digital signage across the university, alongside an email asking for students to complete their review, focused on the prize giving asset. The email stated:  

 Hi {#First Name#}  

You could win £100 by taking just 5 minutes to review your University. REVIEW US NOW (link to review form). As well as giving students a voice and platform to share your views, the reviews help prospective students make crucial decisions on what and where to study. If you’ve already submitted a review this year, thank you! 

The University of Sunderland collected 597 reviews.  

We hope these methodologies successfully used by universities will provide ideas to boost the number of student reviews submitted by your students. Over the years we have seen the positive impacts of the WUSCAs and how the student voice has guided universities to consistently deliver exceptional student experiences. We look forward to seeing you at WUSCAs 2025.