METHODOLOGY TOOLKIT FOR PARTICIPATORY STUDENT SURVEYS
The Institute for Political and International Studies (POLIR Institute) at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) is a large and diverse institute with approximately 800 students. Over half are international students taking BA, MA and PhD courses, offering in Hungary a unique liberal and intercultural education with departments focused on Human Rights, Global and Development Studies and European and International Studies. A survey of student opinions within the POLIR Institute at ELTE University was conducted and was aimed at mapping the students’ opinions about topics, related to teaching, welfare, etc. and explored problematic issues based on student observations. As a result of the collected information, the POLIR Institute has gained a wide range of knowledge about students’ opinions, ideas, wishes and problems which can help to improve students’ time at ELTE. This has led to a series of recommendations that will create reform, change and improvement through an Action Plan. The SWOT Survey can be viewed in the appendix of this toolkit.
Context: The POLIR Institute is facing many challenges. We recently conducted a SWOT analysis of teaching staff, which revealed serious challenges for staff due to a lack of resources/low pay and fears regarding the future of academic freedom. Staff felt the diversity of the institute was a tremendous resource. The student survey in the appendix confirms many of these points and was conducted to gain deeper insights into the challenges facing the POLIR Institute. The POLIR Institute felt it was important to maximise student involvement in the development of an Action Plan.
This guide is divided into two parts. The first part, from pages 3-9, shares our reflections on the participatory research we conducted. The second part, starting on page 10, shares the final report we created based on the research results.