University student's opinion survey: A synthesis and a deeper insight

This study evaluates the University Student's Opinion Survey (OPIS), which measures student satisfaction with university courses using a four-level Likert scale. We propose applying Alkire-Foster's dual cut-off method (Alkire and Foster, 2007; Alkire and Foster, 2011) [2,4] to compute a multidimensional performance indicator and a local concordance curve to detect the association between different dimensions of the performance indicator. In our analysis, we set benchmarks for each survey item to classify classes as effective or critical based on their performance across multiple dimensions. Additionally, we introduce local concordance coefficients to provide deeper insights into student evaluations across different performance areas. In particular, we assess whether there is a concentration of organizational and teaching deficiencies (strengths) among the critical (effective) classes or whether the lacking (appreciated) skills are equally distributed among the different dimensions investigated by the survey. This comprehensive approach, combining the Alkire-Foster method and local concordance analysis, underscores the importance of multidimensional perspectives in assessing teaching quality, providing valuable insights for enhancing educational experiences in higher education. • To account for association among the items of a student's opinion survey, we resort to a counting based approach. • We compute a performance indicator based on Alkire-Foster's dual cut-off methodology, designed to account for association. • We supplement the information provided by the performance indicator with information provided by local concordance.