Overseas Students Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness

Abstract

At a time when higher education institutions are becoming more concerned with quality, the evaluation of teaching effectiveness by students is important. One particular group is often ignored, that is overseas students. In the USA, student evaluation of teaching effectiveness is common, not so in the UK. Furthermore no reported studies have looked at overseas students only in this area. Overseas students from many countries at the University of Birmingham were sent a questionnaire asking them to rank the most important characteristics for their "ideal lecturer". The results were analysed by nationality grouping particularly. A small number of significant differences (p<0.001) were found. The overall rankings were similar to past studies. The most popular characteristics chosen were “has good knowledge of own subject" and "is well prepared for classes". The results were used to construct a specific questionnaire for overseas students to use to rate their lecturers, called the Birmingham Overseas Students Teaching Evaluation Questionnaire (BOSTEQ). The issues around the use of teaching evaluation questionnaires is discussed, particularly their reliability, validity, and whether they are influenced by factors other than teaching.