2021 Student Communications Survey Report

The University of Waterloo’s Student Success Office (SSO) conducted a Student Communications Survey in Winter 2021. Our goal was to understand the communications preferences of University of Waterloo students in order to provide them with the information they need through their preferred channels. This is a follow-up to a similar survey conducted in 2015 and 2019 and compares key results to find out what has changed.

The online survey was customized for graduate and undergraduate students respectively and sent via email to a random sample of international and domestic students from all six faculties.

The survey objectives were to find out from Waterloo students:

1. Where they want to receive information from the University

2. What kind of information they want to receive through each channel

3. Who they consider to be an important source of information

4. How satisfied they are with communications from the University

WHERE: Students still prefer to receive official information from the University via email, and information about student life and services through social media.

Email is still the preferred channel for all types of information from the University and continues to rate especially high for official communications like tuition and fees, academic information, and awards. Social media was popular with students for information about campus events, faculty/program events, student service events, and health and wellness. Students would also like to receive academic information, and urgent campus updates, and faculty or program events on LEARN.

WHAT: Students are looking for university communicators to simplify communications.

Similar to past years, students want to receive all types of information via email, but would like to receive less emails overall. Students identified their desire for streamlined communications which consolidates information from across campus.

WHO: Students consider professors and the Office of the President as important sources of information.

Students continue to report professors as the most important source of information on campus. However, in 2021, the Office of the President (newly-added in 2021) tied with professors as an important source of information.

HOW: Most students are satisfied with university communications

The majority of students are satisfied with communications from the University of Waterloo. Students agree that University communications are approachable and demonstrate care and concern for them as a student.

​​​​​The 2021 Student Communications Survey included key questions from the 2019 and 2015 iterations to track the evolution of student communications preferences over time. Specifically, questions focused on identifying important sources of information and preferred methods of communication were repeated. In response to evolving communications best practices, the recently created Student Communications Framework, and the global pandemic, new questions and options were added to the survey. Each student who completed the survey received a $5 credit on their WatCard.

The survey was administered to a stratified random sample of the student population at Waterloo including graduate and undergraduate students, international and domestic students, and each of the six faculties (see figure 1). Students were invited to participate in the online survey using a personalized link sent via email invitation and reminder emails. The final survey sample included 541 respondents, a representative sample of the student population.

A major topic on everyone’s mind in 2020/2021 has been the global pandemic. Most students (71%) agree that they are receiving the information they need from the University about COVID-19.

In addition, a strong majority (72%) of students indicated that they felt communications from the University demonstrate care and concern for them. When asked to explain, popular (unprompted) themes of these responses included informative and relevant communications, the COVID-19 pandemic, and wellness.

Many students are satisfied with communications from the University of Waterloo (67%). Aligning with concepts from the Student Communications Framework, students agreed that university communications are approachable (74%) (use plain language and are conversational), constructive (60%) (solution and action-oriented), and clear (60%) (short and understandable).

Similar to past years, students want to receive all types of information via email, as well as less emails overall. Many students mentioned a desire for more streamlined communications when providing feedback in open-ended questions. Common themes focused on "streamline/simplify communication", "the newsletter", "more concise email", "more relevant email", and "too much email".

Given the increasing success of the Graduate Student e-news (GSPA e-newsletter), and an interest from undergraduate students in an e-newsletter (66% were interested), this could be worth further consideration. Of those interested in an e-newsletter, popular topics were student life, career supports and personal development, and student related university initiatives.

Since email is the most preferred channel for all types of information, we wanted to learn more about student email preferences. We asked students about how they check and receive emails and about their email preferences.

When it came to checking emails, we wanted to understand which interface students used to access their email. This information can help inform how emails are sent, received, and designed. More than 90% of respondents log in to the University's email interface for their @uwaterloo.ca email, versus 6% that have it forwarded to another email (e.g., Gmail).

In 2021, results around mobile versus desktop use have reversed from 2019. 57% of respondents primarily use a laptop/desktop to check their email (see figure 3).

In previous years, we heard anecdotally from students that they receive too many emails from the University. In 2021, there was a decrease in the number of students who reported receiving emails from the University daily or more often, dropping from 52% in 2019 to 34%. However, most students continue to prefer receiving fewer emails. 49% of students reported that they read every email from the University (see figure 4), a return to 2015 levels. Moreover, international students were more likely to read every email when compared to domestic students.

The relevance of email subject lines continues to be most likely a factor to influence whether students will read an email. The ‘from’ line in an email is not as influential, but students are more motivated to read an email if it is from their professor or advisor/ program coordinator.

We asked students which social media accounts associated with the University they look to for certain types of information. Of those respondents who answered this question, most would like to see the University using the most popular social media platforms. Facebook and Instagram were the most popular overall (see figure 5).

Undergraduate students were more likely to use Reddit and Instagram compared to graduate students. In contrast, graduate students were more likely to use LinkedIn compared to undergraduate students. Both graduate and international students ranked LinkedIn as their third choice for preferred social media platforms.

Most respondents continue to follow the central University of Waterloo accounts (@UofWaterloo, @UWaterloo), their faculty account, and @UWaterlooLife.  Undergrad students are more likely to follow "Clubs or groups that I'm involved with (e.g., @uwglow, @UWBase etc.)" compared to graduate students. The types of information students want to see on each of the accounts has changed slightly since 2019 (see figure 6).

Students continue to want to see urgent campus updates, information about tuition and fees, and academic information, on the university's central accounts. In 2021, students also looked for administrative information on the University’s central account. Respondents continue to look to their faculty accounts for faculty or program/major events, with new 2021 additions of awards and funding and academic information. On @UWaterlooLife, students continue to look for information about campus events and urgent campus updates but are also looking for health and wellness information.

What types of information would students like to see on each UWaterloo social media account?

When it comes to the number of social media accounts associated with the University that students follow, 12% do not follow any of the accounts listed (down from 26% in 2019). Of those that do follow social media accounts associated with the University, 42% follow 1-3 accounts (down from 44% in 2019) and 46% follow 4+ accounts. 

Email and social media remain the preferred student communication method for most categories of information from the University. Overall, these preferences align with the existing methods that the University of Waterloo uses to communicate with students.

LEARN, Waterloo's web-based learning management system, was also popular with students for specific categories of information including academic information, urgent campus updates, and faculty or program/major events. Undergraduate students are more likely to choose LEARN message (14%) when compared to graduate students (7%). Students also reported wanting to see information on UWaterloo Portal including information about tuition and fees, academic information, and urgent campus updates. 

The biggest change in 2021 was the information students preferred to see on websites. Results indicated a desire for information related to health and wellness, campus events for all students, and awards and funding. In comparison, in 2019, students indicated that they preferred to see information about part-time opportunities, student services and events, and urgent campus updates on University websites.

Students continue to want to receive urgent updates through multiple channels (email, text, and LEARN announcements). However, urgent campus updates have (narrowly) fallen out of the top three spots for both social and web when compared to 2019. Similarly, urgent campus updates have fallen from the top three categories of information students want to see in the My Faculty social channels.

What are the top categories of information that students want to receive through each channel?

Who do students consider to be an important source of information on campus?

An important source of information is an individual or group that students trust and identify as providing reliable information. Students continue to report professors as the most important source of information on campus. However, in 2021, the Office of the President (newly added) tied with professors as an important source of information. For undergraduate students, the Registrar’s Office was more frequently rated as an important source, followed by Office of the President and then Professor/Instructor. Graduate students ranked Office of the President as the most important source of information, followed by professor/instructor and then program coordinators.

Students also continue to report professors and academic advisors/program coordinators as the senders that motivate them the most to read an email.

When we drilled down to ask about student services, students were most likely to list Health Services, Co-operative education (new) and the Library as important sources of information.

• Students continue to identify email as their preferred communication channel for all types of information.
• Most students are satisfied with university communications, and agree they are receiving the information they need regarding COVID-19.
• In contrast to 2019, most students are using a laptop or desktop as their primary way to read email.
• Professors and the Office of the President (new in 2021) are most often considered an important source of information on campus.
• Instagram, Facebook and Reddit are the top social channels that students look for information from the University.
• Students are looking to campus communicators for simplified communications.

• Students still prefer to receive fewer emails from the University despite identifying it as their preferred channel for all types of information.
• Students continue to want to receive official information from the University via email. They are likely to choose social media for information about student life and services.

• Students believe the University demonstrates care and concern through their communications.

Recommendations

• Keep content short and straightforward – simplify communications where possible.

• Use language and tone that demonstrates care and concern for your audience.

• Align with concepts from the Student Communications Framework and use language that is approachable, constructive, and clear.  

• Only send students information that they want to receive or that they would consider relevant.

• Make sure email subject lines are relevant to the student and send the email from an individual rather than a generic account.

• Coordinate the delivery of urgent campus updates to students through multiple channels.

• Consider utilizing centralized accounts for content that is applicable to all students

• Consider how different student audiences prefer to receive information and the type of information being shared when choosing how to communicate with students.

2019 Student Communications Survey report (PDF)

2015 Student Communications Survey report (PDF)