The Expectations and Experience of First-Year Students at City University of Hong Kong

There are many forms of information and feedback collected from students in Hong Kong. Most of these tend to concentrate on one particular aspect of the student experience. ‘Evaluating the Student Experience Project (ESEP)’ is a Hong Kong-wide initiative aiming to develop ways of evaluating students' experience, including the ‘total student experience’. This paper discusses one of the projects funded through ESEP, a study at City University of Hong Kong exploring the expectations and experiences of first-year students. The project is designed to collect information from the student perspective to help management plan improvements. Feedback from students is analysed and then reported in a way that is accessible and that identifies areas for potential action. The internet has been used as a medium for questionnaire completion. This first-year project aims to involve students in the feedback process, including the use of focus group discussions prior to questionnaire design. This approach to collecting student feedback will be adopted across the university and potentially in other Hong Kong tertiary education institutions.