Student Insights

How it works

Student consultation groups are facilitated by trained student leaders from across campus. The sessions take place virtually, via Teams and typically last one hour in length. Two student leaders are present - one to facilitate and one to take notes.

Multiple sessions on the same topic

Some campus partners request the same group to be held for multiple audiences, or to have a topic divided into sub topics. We can work with you to find the best way to collect feedback from students. 

Multiple consultation groups

We can accommodate two consultation requests per term from the same faculty/department. This cap is meant to ensure equal access for this service across campus and help departments strategically think about which projects they would like to receive student feedback on. 

The first step is to complete and submit the Student Consultation request form. Intercepts are booked on a first-come, first served basis. Please submit your request to us at least one month ahead of when you'd like the intercept(s) to occur.

From there, we'll contact you to talk through the process and land on the consultation method.

We'll talk about the questions you'd like to ask students: we recommend two to three questions as a guideline for intercepts. 

The only cost to you is the cost of the chocolate bars. 

Registration is posted in UWaterloo Portal and the sessions are promoted on @UWaterlooLife.

If you have other channels that you would like to advertise through you are welcome to do that as well. Sometimes this is helpful if you are looking for specific groups of students and/or if the session(s) will take place after the first few weeks of term when registration tends to be lower.

The report is written using the session notes and the audio recording for clarification as needed. The report will be provided to you within two weeks following a single session. If you require multiple sessions, the report may take a little more time. Once it is written, it is reviewed by the session facilitator and note taker for accuracy before it is forwarded to the requesting party.

The report content depends on the topic, the type of questions asked, the number of sessions held, and the number of participants in each session. For example, graphs and statistics cannot be included for a single session where only three students participated). 

Participants may request to see a copy of the final report if they wish.

We meet with you to talk through what you're hoping to ask students. You'll likely come to us with a few questions in mind that you'd like to ask students. We can help to refine the questions, keeping it to two to three questions.

We load the questions into the survey software and then load it onto our tablets.

UWaterloo Life co-op students spend two to three hours walking around busy areas of campus to interact with students. They ask for a few minutes of students' time in exchange for a chocolate bar.

Within a two to three hour session, we'll typically have 150-200 students answer the questions.

From there, we compile a report and send you the results.

The first step is to complete and submit the Student Consultation request form. Intercepts are booked on a first-come, first served basis. Please submit your request to us at least one month ahead of when you'd like the intercept(s) to occur.

From there, we'll contact you to talk through the process and land on the consultation method.

We'll talk about the questions you'd like to ask students: we recommend two to three questions as a guideline for intercepts. 

The only cost to you is the cost of the chocolate bars.