Residential Life Survey

What is this survey about?

All students living on campus will be invited in latter half of 2025 to respond to the Residential Life Survey. The survey will ask about your experience of living in ANU residences and the outcomes will be used to inform decision-making of accommodation service providers and the University Executive so that we can continually reshape our services to respond to the needs of our community.

Additionally, since 2024, all coursework students commencing their study at ANU in a standard semester are asked about their experience of settling into their accommodation if they live on campus. This questionnaire will form part of the ANU Welcome Survey. To find out more about the survey we send to new ANU coursework students, click HERE.

How does it work?

If you are a student living in an ANU residence, you will receive an invitation to complete this survey from us, ANU Institutional Research, to your ANU email. It will contain a link that you can click or copy paste into a browser of your choice. That link is unique to you. You will receive this email on the date the survey opens.

As with all ANU surveys you will receive from us, you can complete this survey on mobile phone, laptop or desktop computer. We encourage you to read the Participant Information Sheet before commencing the survey so that you know how we collect, manage and use survey responses, and this can inform your decision to participate.

How does this survey impact me? What is the data used for?

This survey is confidential. A confidential survey means that we will link your UID (your unique University Identification number) to your responses, so that you don't have to give us information you've already provided to the University again. Information about what we will link your UID with for this survey, who has access to the data, and how it will be stored is detailed in the Privacy Impact Assessment. All ANU Standard Surveys sent by ANU Institutional Research will have a document called a Privacy Impact Assessment and will be available to review before you receive your invitation to participate in these surveys.

The data in this survey is used to inform decision-making about supporting the experience of students living in ANU residences. When you respond to an ANU survey, your voice and experience becomes part of the data decision-making use to listen to and understand what the University community needs.

Importantly, all data that is used for reporting to inform University decision-making is de-identified. That means, no individual can be identified and reporting is always conducted in aggregate. As is your right, you may request to retrieve a copy of your response and/or delete your response at any time.

What about residential surveys before 2023?

Since 2016, the ANU has been annually surveying students living in residential accommodation to understand their experience. These surveys have been known as the Accommodation Survey and Residential Experience Survey. In 2023, the survey was re-designed by ANU Institutional Research and is now administered by them, bringing the Residential Life Survey under the umbrella of ANU Standard Surveys.