JSBE Feedback Day 2025

JSBE counter feedback for students 2025

Background

Feedback-based development work is a central part of the University of Jyväskylä's development activities. The University's Degree Regulations (§5) state that "feedback collected must be regularly used in the planning and development of teaching, guidance and education. Students have the right and obligation to give feedback."

During the academic year 2023-24, JSBE’s Education Committee developed the process for handling of student and alumni feedback. In the feedback process, national Bachelor feedback, Finnish Economists' recent graduates’ feedback, national Master's career feedback and course feedback are first processed in the disciplines and degree programmes. A summary of the feedback received is made. Based on the disciplines identyify development measures for the coming academic year and report on their development work in the previous year. These past and future development measures can be found in the end of this message. In some of the disciplines student representatives participated in the feedback process.

In April, a joint open feedback morning was organised for staff and students to discuss the feedback received and to learn about the Positive Impact Rating results. 

Summary of the feedback received

The positive feedback we received was:

• the teaching methods and the content taught were generally considered to be interesting and of high quality
• students liked the external guest lecturers and business mentors who bring a practical working life perspective
• the learning atmosphere was considered motivating and the teachers professional
• the interaction between students and teachers was praised
• alumni are well employed and feel that their education meets the needs of the working life

We received corrective feedback on the following issues:

• there was a need for more variety and flexibility in the way studies are conducted, in addition to lectures and exams
• there is a need for more comprehensive teaching and articulation of worklife skills, and the competency goals and learning objectives of degree programmes should be communicated more clearly to make it clearer to students what competences are acquired in the degree programme
• the Master’s thesis process and thesis supervision should be developed in a way that supports students' graduation
• students need verbal feedback on their competences, especially in the early stages of their studies
• more support for study planning, better communication and better tools to support planning

The following issues were discussed in the feedback morning as common areas for development in JSBE:

• Master’s thesis processes are being renewed in several disciplines. Various reforms have been made in the degree programmes: possibilities to write a thesis in pairs, and starting the thesis process already in the spring semester. The discussion also generated new ideas for improving the thesis process and supervision, and the JSBE Education Committee will evaluate which of these can be tried out in JSBE.
• Course feedback was seen as important for the development of individual courses. The new Norppa feedback system was viewed with optimism and the possibility of opening the Norppa feedback surveys earlier, so that time could be set aside to answer them from the last round of courses, was discussed. Teachers also considered the possibility of asking for interim feedback during the course, which could be used to make further changes to the course delivery that would benefit students currently on the course. Through Norppa, each teacher is expected to respond to the students' course feedback collectively.
• The students' wish to receive more verbal feedback on their own skills, especially in the early stages of their studies, was also raised. In Marketing, the provision of short, personalised feedback in the context of the EXAM exams for the mass course had been tested and in Management and Leadership, the possibility of booking a time for a feedback discussion with the teacher had been offered in certain courses. On the other hand, it was also felt that even a numerical grade is feedback, but the it should be clarified what level of learning each grade corresponds with.
• In particular, the career feedback survey highlights the importance of teaching meta-skills such as project management and stress tolerance. In the feedback day the participants discussed ways to better articulate the work-life skills taught in each course. With the new curriculum, these meta-skills have been more comprehensively described in the course descriptions.

Feedback handling in the future

Feedback will continue to be addressed in the disciplines and at the faculty level in the academic year 2025-2026. We encourage students to both actively provide feedback and participate in the feedback process, both in their role as student representatives in the disciplines and at the faculty open feedback day in spring 2026. JSBE faculty are also committed to providing at least a joint reply to the course feedback students have provided through Norppa.

The feedback day in April 2025 was attended by two student representatives of Pörssi’s KOPOJAOSTO. As we would like the opportunity to discuss the feedback received with students, we are exploring new ways to do this together with the Pörssi. However, the feedback day will remain open to all students in the coming spring.

Kind regards,
JSBE’s Education Committee

Past development actions by disciplines 2024-2025

Development activites planned by disciplines for 2025-2026

Corporate Environmental Management

• Thesis process

International Business and Entrepreneurship

• Consistency of course completion methods/evaluation within the program: Revising the course assessment items of the IBE (obligatory) courses to make them better aligned. NOTE: balance consistency (exam as evaluation method) with maintaining/developing students' skills of academic writing (needed to graduate with theses).
• Programme specification & career path acknowledgement: 1) orientation week and 2) end of 1st year clearly communicate: what IBE is, where to find what IBE is not (e.g., other JYU courses, open Uni, etc), career services promotion (URA courses promotion during EHOPS) NOTE: emphasize students' own responsibility for EHOPS planning according to their career goals

Management and Leadership

• Continue to monitor the development of Bachelor courses (content, etc.) (note the timing of the 2024 survey)
• Master’s theses process, meeting in spring
• Revision of the material for theses supervision 5/2025

Accounting

• Improved student satisfaction with Bachelor thesis supervising. Compilation and sharing of best practices for feedback, guidance process, seminars.

Marketing

• Piloting different feedback processes. Seeking good practices from the Open University.

Economics

• Trying to ensure that there is no conflicting lecture times using the excel at the S-station.
  The Econometrics and Microeconomics courses are in the same section. Find out if one could be moved to another period in the autumn.

Responsible Business and Management of Sport

• streamlinging the thesis process
• developing the thesis supervising

Corporate Communications

• EXPLAINING HOW EACH COURSE DRIVES CC COMPETENCY GOALS: In each course, we will clearly communicate how the course-specific learning goals align with and contribute to the broader CC competency goals.
• COURSE FEEDBACK COLLECTION. In the final lecture of each course, the teacher will remind students about providing feedback and guide them in submitting it. Feedback reminders will be given at least once. Link to feedback will also be set in Moodle. Aim is to gain 30% response rate that is ambitious goal considering the current situation and systems.