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The results of the instrument, applied in 13 universities of the Council of Rectors and Rectors during the second year of the health crisis, showed an improvement in the perception of students regarding teaching practices and the quality of interactions with professors.
The director of the ENCE Project, Gonzalo Zapata, stated that one challenge for educational institutions is to maintain the learning and good practices developed during the pandemic and strengthen various training spaces in the return to in-person learning.
More than 8,000 undergraduate students from 13 institutions of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) participated in the fourth application of the National Survey of Student Engagement (ENCE), which was carried out during 2021.
The results were presented this Thursday, October 13, within the framework of the ENCE 2022 Seminar: transformations and challenges of student engagement in the post-COVID scenario, which took place at the Postgraduate Center of the University of Talca in Santiago.
The meeting was held in a hybrid format and the first panel was led by the rector of the Alberto Hurtado University, Eduardo Silva sj and head of the commission of Academic Vice-Rectors of CRUCH; the general secretary of CRUCH, Angélica Bosch; and the director of the ENCE Project, Gonzalo Zapata.
Angélica Bosch highlighted ENCE as a valuable tool for universities because it "allows for a comprehensive overview of student experience and engagement." She added that it "contributes to obtaining information across various dimensions, offering universities the opportunity to provide feedback on their own academic and educational processes.".
The Secretary General of CRUCH also noted that the survey allows for monitoring the variables evaluated and that "being an inter-institutional body, where several universities participate, it is possible to make a comparative analysis of the results and detect if there are specific dimensions where greater emphasis should be placed.".
For his part, Rector Silva maintained that ENCE is relevant because “it allows us to better understand the phenomenon of student learning and engagement. The tasks that students undertake are crucial to the quality of learning; therefore, it is essential to have this information and cross-reference it with the actions we take at universities, seeking improvements in learning.”.
Subsequently, the survey results were discussed in a panel discussion featuring Paula Manríquez, Vice-Rector of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Talca; Rodrigo del Valle, Director of Inclusion and Support at the Catholic University of Temuco; Ximena Catalán, researcher at the Millennium Nucleus for Student Experience in Higher Education; and Fernanda Valdés, Director of Quality Assurance at the University of Los Andes. The discussion was moderated by Leonor Armanet, Academic Vice-Rector of the University of Chile.
Student perceptions during the pandemic
ENCE was applied during the second semester of 2021, with the participation of 8,025 first-year (Admission 2021) and fourth-year (Admission 2018) students from undergraduate programs of CRUCH universities.
The instrument gathered information on students' reported experiences across various dimensions related to academic challenge, peer learning, faculty interactions, and the university environment. It also collected perceptions about time management, expectations, and achievements experienced during the educational process.
ENCE 2021 was applied in the context of the Covid-19 health crisis, a period in which undergraduate teaching was mostly conducted remotely.
Gonzalo Zapata, director of the ENCE Project, highlighted that the 2021 results show improvement in some of the indicators. “The one that stands out most is the students' perception of their professors' effective teaching practices. This indicates that—in some way—the teaching strategies at our universities have reached the teaching teams and that the academic staff have managed to adapt to the context of remote learning,” he said.
In that scenario, 92% of first-year students considered that their teachers presented very or quite clear course structures, while 88% of fourth-year students considered it so.
Of the participants who entered universities in 2021, 931% felt that the professors presented the classes in a very or fairly organized manner, and 671% felt that they received very or fairly timely feedback regarding tests, assessments, and/or assignments. Among those who entered higher education in 2018, these areas were also well-rated, with 831% and 571%, respectively.
On the other hand, the main indicators associated with student experience show improvements regarding the interaction between students and teachers, when comparing the first and second year of the pandemic.
Gonzalo Zapata commented that “it seems that the students” main contact is with their teachers. It is very valuable that this is highlighted positively by young people, despite the virtual nature of the learning and connectivity problems during the pandemic.”.
Post-Covid projections
The findings of ENCE 2021 can help chart the course for university activity post-pandemic. The rector of Alberto Hurtado University stated that “we know the pandemic affected learning, that some very important things were left undone, and that the quality of processes declined. In this sense, the survey provides us with information about what has happened in these two years.”.
Similarly, the director of the ENCE Project, Gonzalo Zapata, stated that universities face the challenge of incorporating the lessons learned and best practices developed during the pandemic into academic practices.
“The question is how to recover that now in person and how to take advantage of greater commitment and attraction from young people in this context, but without replicating the intensive use, for example, of direct teaching, which had already been an issue regarding the excessive time that students spend in classes,” he stated.
For more details on the ENCE 2021 results, please refer to the following: this link.
More about ENCE
The National Survey of Student Engagement Assessment (ENCE) is an instrument that seeks to evaluate and improve the engagement of students from universities belonging to CRUCH.
The survey, which originated from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), was translated and used by the University of Valparaíso in 2015. Subsequently, in 2017, that institution, along with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Chile, conducted a pilot project of the ENCE survey to adequately capture the characteristics of the undergraduate student experience in our local context. From 2018 onwards, other universities belonging to the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) joined the initiative.
Eighteen universities are participating in ENCE 2022: University of Valparaíso, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, University of Chile, Catholic University of Temuco, University of Playa Ancha, University of Aysén, Catholic University of the Holy Conception, University of La Frontera, University of Talca, Metropolitan Technological University, Alberto Hurtado University, Arturo Prat University, University of Los Lagos, University of Magallanes, University of Los Andes, University of Santiago de Chile, Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences and University of Atacama.
Presentation: Student Experience in the Context of a Pandemic – Gonzalo Zapata
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