The Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus Coordination) recently conducted a survey of students who were enrolled, either compulsorily or by choice, at more than one campus.  The purpose was to find out students’ attitudes to the experience.   

The Online Survey was directed to 2,888 students identified as cross-campus enrolments.  An email, including a hyperlink to a Monash website, enabled students to respond to the survey online.  The survey was sent to students and remained 'live’ for one week.  There were 279 respondents, approximately 10% of the distribution number: this response rate was consistent with other Monash online surveys.

The survey consisted of 65 questions seeking information about enrolments in 2006 in Semester 1 and Semester 2 units.  Directed comments in five of the questions enabled students to provide detail about specific issues and concerns.  A combination of Yes-No questions about specific positive and negative aspects of the experience, and written response questions, enabled students to introduce issues we had not thought of.

Dr Wright’s analysis, Monash University Cross-Campus Enrolment Survey: Report on Online Survey, focused on the four campuses with the greatest number of respondents – Caulfield (96), Clayton (93), Berwick (38) and Peninsula (32).  Gippsland responses were largely from Distance Education students and only one Parkville student responded.

Attitudes to cross-campus travel, either chosen or required, varied between the central and outer campuses.  Some students saw benefits in travelling to attend particular units unavailable at their home campus, while another group resented the requirement to travel because a unit was not available at their home campus.  The number of days and distance involved in travel, time taken, availability of transport and parking all contributed to the respondents’ attitude to travelling to attend classes at another campus. 

One of the aims of the survey was to try to understand how easy or hard it was to construct a timetable when a student was enrolled in units at a campus other than their home campus.  Timetable clashes occurred for a number of reasons and students frequently changed their choice of unit to avoid a clash, or changed their choice of unit to avoid travelling to another campus.

Attitudes toward timetables and inter-campus travel varied across campuses and can be broadly categorized as follows:

·      Berwick respondents perceived benefits in having classes at Clayton and/or Caulfield campus – they enjoyed both attending a larger campus and the ability to select from a wider choice of units – these benefits offset the travel time issues.  However, some resented efforts by Berwick staff to enrol them in Berwick units where available; this was especially noted by students who lived near the central campuses.

·       Peninsula respondents (especially Education double degree students studying Arts and Science units at Clayton or Caulfield) were, overall, less happy to travel to another campus several days each week.  They perceived little effort is made to provide timetable assistance and course advice when they need it, especially in double degrees.

·       Of the 70 respondents from Berwick and Peninsula, six travelled between these two campuses for classes.

·      Caulfield respondents were overall very positive about the atmosphere, activities and wide variety of subjects available for study at Clayton.  However, many complained about the time taken to travel between the two campuses and the lack of choice of units at Caulfield.  The major issue for Caulfield/Clayton students was that Allocate+ does not treat consecutive units at Caulfield and Clayton as a clash.

·      Clayton respondents were overall more negative about travelling to Caulfield because of timetabling clashes.  Some Clayton students also commented that the long travel time to outer campuses made it less of an option to consider units on these campuses.

·      Gippsland.  The survey captured a number of Gippsland Distance Education students who were enrolled both on-campus and off-campus and their responses, especially in the open-response section of the survey, provide a useful insight into the advantages of multi-modal study.

The Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus Coordination) has now made Recommendations on cross-campus enrolments which, if accepted, it hopes will enhance the cross-campus experience for students.

Professor Phillip Steele
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus Co-ordination)
& Academic Director, Berwick and Peninsula Campus

24 April 2007