evasys at the ARC Annual Conference 2025:

Shaping the future of student insight in UK higher education

evasys is delighted to be attending the ARC Annual Conference 2025, a key event in the higher education calendar and an essential gathering for the UK’s Academic Registrars. Representing evasys this year will be Glenda Saint John, Head of Engagement, and Ben Rogers, evasys Consultant and former Chair of ARC (2022–2024).

Ben brings a wealth of sector knowledge to the team, having also served as Director of Registry Services at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His insight into the challenges and opportunities facing Academic Registrars today is both current and practical – as reflected in his recent article for AHEP, ‘Strategic considerations for a successful student survey tool’, which highlights the University of Sussex as a real-world example of how effective student insight can inform meaningful enhancement.

Date: 2-4 November, 2025
Location: Bristol Grand Hotel By Sunday

Glenda Saint John

Head of Engagement, evasys

Ben Rogers

evasys Consultant and former Chair of ARC (2022–2024).

For evasys, the ARC Conference is more than just a networking opportunity. It is a space to demonstrate how deeply we understand the higher education landscape and illustrate how our sector-built survey and insight solutions continue to evolve in partnership with institutions across the UK and beyond.

Designed for higher education, by higher education

evasys remains the leading survey and evaluation platform in UK higher education, trusted by universities and colleges for its sector-specific design, robust integrations and a senior team whose experience spans academic registry, student IT systems, quality enhancement, student experience, programme administration, centralised services, student engagement and institutional research. This depth of experience ensures that our solutions align with institutional realities, rather than generic enterprise needs.

Transforming student voice analysis with AI that works

This year, we’re particularly excited to showcase our partnership with Student Voice AI, which is transforming the way institutions understand and act on open-text student feedback. The results speak for themselves.

Analysing this year’s PTES data from one UK institution, the AI-driven categorisation delivered by Student Voice far outperformed previous sector benchmarks:

73,622 comments processed in total
2,024 identified as having no substantive content (e.g. “n/a”, “none”, “-”)
Of the remaining 71,598 comments, every single one was allocated both positive and negative sentiment

Well over 90% of comments were allocated to one or more categories, all within a UK-specific categorisation structure (and many of those that weren’t were edge cases)
All comments were processed with clear identification of those with no substance and those not categorised

By contrast, one institution reported that the AI tool used in 2024 only analysed 53% of comments, with the remaining 47% unprocessed. Of the 53%, 30% were allocated a category of “other”. Furthermore, sentiment was not allocated to 57% of comments. That institution was therefore unable to use the analysis received in any way.

The institution commented that the benefits of the Student Voice/evasys analysis was being able to see the data in Excel format as well as through the dashboard, with the addition of number of comments with comparison to the sector provided and, more importantly, the narrative summary reports provided, using Student Voice’s deterministic then generative AI.

Ultimately the main focus for staff is wanting to know what the issues are – and having confidence that a high percentage of the comments were categorised and allocated sentiment. Being able to see all this in the tables, with the text summary to accompany for each theme and category, helped the institution achieve those objectives.

Institutions using Student Voice AI consistently report the difference: clearer insights, actionable themes and categories, sector benchmarks and narrative reports that drive improvement. As one customer put it, “We finally have data that makes sense to academics and professional services alike.”

Real intelligence, not just a pretty face

While visually impressive interfaces may attract attention, substance and reliability are what matter most in understanding student feedback through open comments. The reality is that the strength of an AI tool lies not in its design gloss, but in its capacity to produce accurate, meaningful and sector-relevant insights.

At evasys, we are proud to partner with an AI technology that truly delivers on this promise – one that turns thousands of comments into evidence that informs strategy, drives enhancement and amplifies the student voice. And the dashboards look pretty good, too.

Join the conversation

We look forward to connecting with Academic Registrars and sector colleagues at ARC 2025 to discuss not just how evasys supports effective student engagement, but how together we can advance the quality agenda across UK higher education.

Find us at the conference, or reach out to Glenda Saint John or Ben Rogers for a chat.