Student evaluation web sites as potential sources of consumer information in the United Arab Emirates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) towards non‐institutionally sanctioned student evaluation web sites, and to consider how educational institutions might respond to the demands of students for specific information.Design/methodology/approach – The study involved a self‐completed questionnaire administered to 118 undergraduate students at a single university in the UAE.Findings – Even though there exists no UAE‐based web site that carries student evaluations of faculty/teaching, 13 per cent of the survey participants had previously visited a site that held student ratings, 85 per cent said they would consider posting on one if it existed in the country, and just over a half of the students were in favour of such web sites being established in the UAE.Research limitations/implications – Despite limitations, such as the sample size and convenience sampling strategy, it is clear that students appreciate information about course ev...

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