Student Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: Evidence from Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper examines empirically the determinants of student evaluation of teaching (SET).  An empirical model was specified and estimated using the SET data collected in Hong Kong over six academic years.  A key finding is that three different origins of students had a differentiated impact on teaching evaluation.  In particular, students from mainland China appreciated and rated teaching favorably, and hence the more mainland talents in the class, the higher the class-average SET scores.  However, local Hong Kong students valued teaching and learning effectiveness unfavorably.  Exchange students from abroad also dropped the class-average SET scores, as well as class-average exam scores.  The results suggest that raw SET scores should be used with care if classes are unbalanced with a large group of atypical students who work less but blame instructors for everything.