Kent Sport & Kent Union – Student Research

Since the introduction of the £9,000 tuition fees, there has been a growing demand by the student body to review Kent Sport membership fees due to perceived lack of value for money. Over the last few years each Vice-President (Sports) has lobbied the University and in 2018 it was finally agreed to establish a joint Kent Sport and Kent Union working group to look into the financial viability and true demand for alternative membership options by carrying out some in-house research.

Following a review of the results, a number of limitations were identified and the working group concluded that due to limited resource, time and the potential for bias, that an external consultant should be appointed to continue the work to truly identify a membership package that is financially viable and meets the needs of the students.

In November 2018, Nina was engaged by the working party to complete the research. Our brief included:

• Research and benchmark club and facility membership options/packages at other comparator group institutions and local sports and recreational activities centres.
• Consult with students through a robust, representative survey and focus groups to quantify and qualify the demand for different membership options and determine what these might be.
• Analyse and interpret results to develop a high level summary with comprehensive recommendations.

Results

 “With Nina’s support we reached over 2,500 students – our highest ever survey response rate. Nina used a variety of methodologies to ensure that we were gaining comprehensive qualitative and quantitative feedback from the whole student community, from the engaged to the dis-engaged which gives us great confidence that the research is fully representative.

As a collaborative project between the Students’ Union and the University Nina was aware of the needs and requirements from both parties to deliver a comprehensive report with a wide range of recommendations, including both some quick wins and longer term aspirations. We’re all extremely confident that the results from this piece of work will contribute to bringing about a step change to the offer for students whilst delivering Kent Sport and Kent Union’s financial commitments.”

Rebecca Green, Head of Student Activities, Kent Union.