Postgraduate SSAF Report

Postgraduate Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) 2014 survey

Since the introduction of the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) in 2011, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has paid close attention to its implementation by higher education providers and its impact on student organisations around Australia.

As part of this activity between November 2013 and October 2014 a survey was conducted by CAPA to examine the uses and importance of SSAF to postgraduate students. The survey encompassed 32 higher education providers and focused on the views of postgraduate students towards student representation, services and amenities. Twenty three questions were presented as a digital survey over this period of time resulting in 733 responses across a variety of demographics and institutions.

A survey report was launched in November 2014, it and the survey instrument can be downloaded here. An expanded report will be released in August 2015 providing further analysis of the survey results.

• SSAF survey report 2014 and other documents
• CAPA SSAF 2012 Report

The survey collected demographic data along with the attitudes of postgraduate students towards postgraduate representation on campuses and the allocation of SSAF funds to services and amenities. Here an overview of those results is given that looks at the respondents, their attitudes towards representation and their ratings of services and amenities.

The respondents

The 733 respondents came from 33 higher education institutions in Australia , of those 56% were research postgraduates and 44% coursework.

• 84% of respondents were engaged in full time study while 15% were part time and 1% had suspended their studies,
• 42% of respondents were male, 57% female and 1% other,
• 38% of respondents were international students, less than 1% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Attitudes towards postgraduate representation

Respondents felt strongly that independent representation of postgraduate issues by postgraduates was important.

• Over 90% of respondents felt that it was important for postgraduate issues to be represented by a body independent from an undergraduate body and the higher education provider.
• Over 85% of respondents felt that it was important individual advocacy and legal casework services were provided to postgraduates and that these are independent from the higher education institution.
• Over 90% of respondents felt that it was important for student associations to support and engage with political and social issues.

The importance of services and amenities to postgraduates

Part of the survey asked respondents to rate a list of 19 services using five categories (1) essential, (2) very important, (3) important, (4) not very important, (5) not required. Overwhelmingly the results show they valued the contribution that SSAF has made to campus services and amenities, with even the least popular service Student Debating receiving over 70% positive feedback, and the most popular Libraries and Reading Rooms received over 95% [Figure 3 and 4]. Respondents were reasonably consistent in their rating of services and amenities, with no significant variation in the top 5 serves and amenities. Interestingly for female students Advising students on University policy was a top five priority, while for male students it was Student sport and recreation [Figure 2].