5253Professor Jane LongmoreJane Longmore joined Southampton Solent University on 1 November 2007 and was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor in January 2010. She had previously worked in a number of universities across the sector and has held roles at every level from lecturer to senior manager over three decades.She studied history at the University of Oxford; gained a PGCE from the University of Durham; was awarded her Doctorate in 1983 by the University of Reading; and made a Professor of Urban History by Southampton Solent University at the end of 2007. Her particular research interests lie in north-west regional history; her latest publication examines the country homes of eighteenth-century Liverpool slave traders.She has wide-ranging teaching experience and pursues her interests in pedagogy at a national level through involvement with the Higher Education Academy. As an experienced QAA Reviewer, she has audited every type of higher education institution in the UK and has also been engaged in international reviews. John GillJohn Gill is news editor of Times Higher Education magazine. He is responsible for commissioning and editing all news for the publication, both domestic and international.He has previously held posts as deputy news editor and reporter at THE, covering such issues as internationalisation, administration and fundraising. He has also written for a number of national newspapers, and started his career in journalism at the Cambridge Evening News. As a student he read history at the University of Nottingham.profiles

5455As in previous years, the objective of the 2012 survey was to conduct independent research into university undergraduate students' opinions and perceptions about non-academic life whilst in the university environment.The 2012 survey was conducted using an online questionnaire with students from The Student Panel, a nationally representative panel of students at Higher Education Institutions across the UK. This was the same methodology as the 2006, 2008 and 2010 surveys, which allows for a great deal of comparison between surveys and identification of trends. The methodology had changed in 2006 to online to allow for a larger sample, improved quota penetration, speed and cost efficiency.As in 2006, 2008 and 2010, OpinionPanel* conducted the fieldwork for the survey with members of The Student Panel. Each year, panellists are recruited online via mailings from UCAS to all new first year undergraduates during October and November. All panellists have verified academic email addresses (.ac.uk). This ensures unique respondents who really are university students.The questionnaire underwent a review in 2008 from representatives of Sodexo, THES and OpinionPanel. New questions were added on topical issues such as online sources of information, debt and how often students cook their own meals. All other questions were reviewed and new answers added as appropriate. The questionnaire had originally been devised following group discussions with UK undergraduate students. The design took into account topical issues expected to be of interest to universities and those wishing to understand undergraduate opinions about lifestyle issues affecting them. The questionnaire was adapted to the online methodology in 2006.The questionnaire for the 2012 survey included 32 questions and on average took 18 minutes to complete. Some new questions were added to the survey, including the impact on students' course choices and lifestyle if they had to pay the £9,000 tuition fee, where students would invest money within their university to improve their university experience and locations where students do their food. It included mainly closed questions, rating scales and numeric questions, as well as some open questions where respondents could respond verbatim. Respondents were rewarded with a £1 gift certificate for Amazon for completing a survey.The study was based 2,001 on-line interviews with full time undergraduates in all years of study at 139 UK Higher Education Institutions. The fieldwork took place between 21st November and 28th November 2011. Quotas and weights were used to ensure the data was representative of the UK full-time undergraduate student population in terms of university type (Russell Group, Other Old universities, New universities and other HEIs) year group (1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year+) and gender. Targets for the quotas and weights were acquired using data supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Table 1 shows the number of full time undergraduates split by university type, gender and year. Table 2 shows the quota targets used in the 2012 survey. OpinionPanel produced data tabulations of each question with the following variables used as cross breaks: gender, year group, university type and region, hours of fixed study, accommodation type, degree course, live in UK, work in term-time and family at university.* OpinionPanel ResearchOpinionpanel is the fully independent market research company that owns and operates The Future Panel, The Student Panel and The Graduate Panel; with over 60,000 members we cover those critical, transformative years before, during and after life as a student. We provide clients with genuinely valid and representative samples. All our research is confidential and in line with the Market Research Society (MRS) Code of Conduct. We are MRS Company Partners. We provide clients with a choice of full-service research, field-and-tabs, or sample-only services.