How it Works
A 12 month cycle of insight and improvement
Investor in Students takes you through a 12 month measurement cycle, supporting members to listen to students, reflect on experience and improve over time.
Step 1
Join and prepare
Members join Investor in Students and are supported by a dedicated account manager to plan for the year ahead, including survey planning, communications and timing.
Step 2
Wave 1: Early Insight x Quick Reactions
Our Wave 1 survey captures student sentiment soon after arrival, providing timely insight into how students are settling in.
Wave 1 is designed to support early understanding and action.
Step 3
Understand and Action
Following Wave 1, members receive a detailed insight report highlighting key themes, strengths and areas of concern.
This insight is also available through the IIS member portal, allowing teams to explore results in depth and begin acting early where needed.
Step 4
Wave 2: Measure and Accredit
The main accreditation survey provides a robust, 360º assessment of student experience, forming the basis for accreditation.
Insight from Wave 2 reflects the lived experience of students across the academic year and contributes directly to Gold, Silver or Bronze accreditation outcomes.
Step 5
Benchmark and Reflect
Wave 2 results are benchmarked in context, helping members understand performance relative to peers, markets and previous years.
Members receive a comprehensive accreditation insight report, supporting reflection on strengths, gaps and priorities for improvement.
Step 6
Improve and Repeat
Insight is translated into forward-looking action planning, supported by account management and ongoing guidance.
The journey then repeats in the following year, enabling members to track progress, understand change over time and commit to continuous improvement.
The Accreditation
The IIS Accreditation is awarded annually and is underpinned by consistent methodology, independent oversight and sector-wide benchmarking.
For members, it provides:
- Independent recognition of the experience you deliver
- Clarity and confidence in your performance over time
- A platform for sustaining and enhancing positive student experience
Investor in Students recognises progress as well as performance, supporting members at every stage of their journey.
Support throughout the journey
All Investor in Students Members are supported throughout the year
We achieve this through a combination of:
A dedicated account manager
Working alongside you to plan and deliver your accreditation
Our self-service Member Portal for exploring results
Giving you the ability to deep-dive into your results
Detailed insight reports following each survey wave
Providing you with in-depth analysis of your results
Ongoing guidance and opportunities to learn from the wider IIS community
Delivered via webinars, roundtables, annual events and a member database
This ensures insight is not only accessible but actively supported and applied.
High Touch High Tech
The IIS Member Dashboard
Our Member Dashboard gives members real-time visibility of survey progress and ongoing access to their student insight — all in one place.
Insight portal
Members have access to our self-service Insight Portal containing all of their survey results over time.
The portal allows members to explore results in detail, analyse patterns across buildings, cohorts and questions, and return to insight whenever needed, supporting deeper understanding beyond headline findings.
Performance Portal
Members can monitor survey engagement in real time through our Performance Portal.
- Track response rates as surveys are live
- Understand which communication channels are driving engagement
- Make timely action to improve participation where needed
The Performance Portal supports more effective survey delivery and more representative insight.
Experience Dashboard
Members can also access our AI-powered Experience Dashboard, designed to help make sense of the thousands of free-text comments received through the survey.
Free text feedback is automatically categorised by theme and scored as positive, neutral or negative, making it easy to see which aspects of the experience are driving sentiment.
Members can then explore the detail further using AI-assisted analysis, filtering by location, student group or service pillar to uncover deeper patterns and emerging priorities.
The Member Dashboard supports members throughout the IIS journey from live survey delivery to detailed analysis, reflection and year-on-year learning.
Working with Investors in Students has provided us with invaluable insight into our student experience. Their surveys have helped us better understand the needs, expectations, and priorities of our students, enabling us to make more informed decisions and drive meaningful improvements"
Ashley Jones
National Head of Operations
Investor in Students has been a brilliant partner in helping us better understand and enhance the student experience in our accommodation. The team are knowledgeable, supportive, and a pleasure to work with, and the volume and quality of feedback and analysis they provide is outstanding."
Joe Lay
Director of Accommodation
it’s the ongoing support that really sets IIS apart. Every step of the journey feels collaborative, thoughtful and focused on outcomes — and the speed at which the team turns around insights makes it so much easier to act quickly and with confidence.”
Laura Palmour
Associate Director of Residences
The benchmarking helped us recognise where we were leading, and where to focus next. What makes IIS so valuable is the hands-on, high-touch support — from personalised insight reports to collaborative action planning, the team are truly invested in helping us raise the bar every year.”
Einita Suman
Director of Accommodation and Operations
Investor in Students has become an important part of how we assure and improve the student experience across our residences. Benchmarking adds an extra layer of assurance, showing how our students’ experience compares across the sector and helping us prioritise investment and resource with clarity.”
Viki Welch
Associate Director of Student Living
For us, IIS provides an independent, credible way to evidence the value we deliver for our stakeholders. The insight goes far beyond satisfaction scores — it gives us a clear, data-led view of how students experience our service, where we’re adding the most value, and where targeted improvements will have the greatest impact"
David Chadderton
CMO
As we’ve evolved our business and started building out our next portfolio, IIS has played a key role in shaping how we think about student experience from the outset. The data helps us move beyond assumptions and design experiences that genuinely reflect what students value — not just what we think they want."
Laura Kurt
Managing Director
What really stands out about IIS is how accessible and practical the insight is. The dashboards make it easy to explore the data in real time, track performance and quickly understand what’s driving student sentiment across different areas of the business."
Paul Watson
Managing Director
Interested in becoming a member?
Join a growing community of accommodation providers using evidence and shared learning to improve the student living experience.