The Student Panel FAQs

The UCAS Student Panel is a community of students who provide valuable insights through quick surveys and other activities. Whether you’re exploring your next steps or already at uni, your voice can help shape the services and support students receive. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to earn rewards for your time and effort! 

 As a panel member, you’ll:

• take part in short surveys about education, student life, your experiences and third-party products and services
• share your thoughts on new UCAS tools and features
• be invited to occasional focus groups or online discussions
• influence decisions that affect future students
   

We think listening to student experiences is important – it helps us to understand your perspectives and to identify where we, and those who also engage with students, can improve what we do. 

For this reason you will receive different types of survey requests from UCAS, and we may share results from our surveys with third parties to help them improve what they do. No matter the type of survey request, we aim to make our research projects enjoyable to take part in, incentivised, and give you an opportunity to share your views on topics that could make a positive difference to students like you.

If you have any questions about your account, feel free to reach out to us at panel@ucas.ac.uk.

Membership is open to anyone who has a UCAS Hub account, is resident in the UK, and aged 16 or over. 

From time to time we may close membership to new members to ensure we have enough research activities for all members to participate in.

Students who sign up to the UCAS Student Panel will be offered the opportunity to complete surveys and other research projects such as occasional focus groups. 

Depending on the type of survey you complete, you’ll either receive a prize draw entry or points. Prize draws take place every three months. Points can be redeemed once you reach our minimum threshold of £15. At which point, you’ll receive an email inviting you to claim your rewards and exchange your points for a gift card, choosing from a variety of retailers. See full details in the terms and conditions.

Along with the rewards you will also have the satisfaction of knowing that your feedback makes a difference for students across the UK, and it's an exclusive opportunity to have your voice heard on topics that matter.

• Where activities offer opportunities to collect points, one point is worth one pence.
• When your points meet the minimum value of £15 you may be able redeem your points for vouchers.  
• Points are calculated at the end of each calendar month, and any points below the value of £15 will carry over to the next month.
• The number of points awarded may vary per activity.
• If you have at least £15 in rewards points at the end of the calendar month, you will receive an email during the following calendar month containing a link to redeem your points as a voucher of your choice.

Available vouchers can vary from time to time depending on our supplier, but at the time of writing include:

adidas, ALDI, Amazon.co., Apple, Argos, Asda, ASK Italian, ASOS, Bella Italia, Bloom & Wild, B&M, Boots, B&Q, Cafe Rouge, Cafe Nero, Cineworld, Clarks, Costa, Cote, Currys PC World, Decathlon GB, Deliveroo, Dunelm, Ernest Jones, Farmfoods, Foot Locker, Google Play, Greggs, Habitat, Halfords, Harvey Nichols, H&M, Hobbycraft, Homesense, H. Samuel, Iceland, IKEA, Joe & Seph's, John Lewis & Partners, Las Iguanas, Lego, Marks and Spencer, Matalan, Morrisons, Nando's, National Book Tokens, National Garden, National Trust, New Look, Nike, Not On The High Street, Odeon, Ole & Steen, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut Restaurants, Prezzo, Primark, Record Tokens, Rituals, River Island, Sainsbury's, Schuh, Sports Direct, Tesco GB, Theatre Tokens, The Entertainer, The Golf, The White Company, TK Maxx, Toby Carvery, Uber, Uber Eats, Uber, Virgin Experience, Wacky Warehouse, Wagamama, Waitrose & Partners, Wickes, Zalando GB, Zalando Men, Zalando Women, Zizzi.

Yes. Please see our terms and conditions including community rules for guidelines on participation.

If you prefer not to receive emails, simply click the 'unsubscribe' link in any message from us, or email us at panel@ucas.ac.uk. 

You won’t receive email notifications about surveys if you unsubscribe.

If you want to leave, email us at panel@ucas.ac.uk..

Surveys usually take between five – 15 minutes to complete, but can vary in length.

The time you have will vary from survey to survey, but generally you’ll have about seven days to complete it, or until the quota is full, whichever is sooner. 

The closing date for each survey will be clearly stated in your email.

The email address used for the UCAS Student Panel will be the same as the email address you used to sign up to the UCAS Hub. 

If you want to change your email address, do this in your UCAS Hub first. Once you’ve done this, please let us know at panel@ucas.ac.uk. 

We believe that listening to your experiences is key to understanding your perspective and helping us (and others who work with students) improve what we offer. 

As part of the UCAS research panel, you’ll receive a variety of survey invitations, covering a range of topics designed to reflect your interests and experiences. We may also share survey findings with third parties to support them in making positive changes for students.

Every survey is designed to be engaging, rewarding, and focused on areas where your views can make a real difference for students like you. Whether it’s sharing your opinions on student life, brands, or trends, your insights will help shape better support and opportunities for current and future students.

If you have any trouble logging in, please email us at panel@ucas.ac.uk.

As your Student Panel account is directly tied to your UCAS Hub account, you'll need to change your email address in the 'Profile' section of your UCAS Hub account first.

If you have any problems, email us at panel@ucas.ac.uk.  

Cookies are necessary for tracking your activity and ensuring smooth access to the UCAS Student Panel platform. While you can disable cookies in your browser, doing so may prevent access to certain features. For more details about our cookie policy, read our Privacy Policy.

It could be because you’re using an ad blocker or VPN. If this is the case, try turning them off and refreshing the page. 

If this doesn’t work, email us at panel@ucas.ac.uk. 

Your privacy is a priority. Please read our Privacy Policy for details on data protection. UCAS will never share your personal information without consent.

You can find more information on our surveys transparency page.

By becoming a member of the UCAS Student Panel community, you’ll only receive emails related to Student Panel activities. 

Your information won’t be shared with external companies except for QuMind our panel partner, for the purpose of adminstering the panel, and Tremendous, our rewards partner for the purpose of administering rewards you may earn while using the panel.

If you have a technical issue not covered here, please send us details at panel@ucas.ac.uk. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.