# Get more out of what students already tell you.

> Febaso groups every open student answer into themes with counts and verbatim quotes, next to your existing evaluations. For higher education quality teams.

Web page: https://febaso.com/industries/education · Updated: 2026-10-21

Febaso isn't another questionnaire but an analysis and conversation partner: it reads every open answer, groups them into themes with counts and verbatim quotes, and asks a follow-up where the why matters.

- Works alongside your questionnaires and the national questionnaire
- Every theme traceable to the answer
- Processed in the EU, never used for AI training

## From one question to a better course.

1. **Say what you want to know.** In one sentence, with your questionnaire or last evaluation as context. Febaso writes the questions, with a follow-up where the why matters. You review them.
2. **Students answer in a conversation.** Through a QR code in class or a link in your learning environment, on their phone, typed or spoken, in their own language. When an answer stays vague, Febaso asks a follow-up.
3. **You see the themes and decide.** Themes with counts and verbatim quotes, while it runs. You choose what to do. Reporting back per theme is something we build together with the first programmes.

## A course evaluation, from start to finish.

Set up an evaluation, answer it as a student, watch the themes take shape and send the update. Ten taps, with made-up data, and then you look around yourself.

### What one round yields (Example data)

Research skills · term 2 · Northwind College. Northwind College, Anouk and every answer here are made up for this demo.

| Theme | Raised by | In their words |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Assessment: feedback comes too late | 42 students | "My feedback on the first assignment only arrived after the deadline of the second." |
| Assessment: unclear criteria | 19 students | "I only knew what a good report looked like when I got my grade." |
| Planning: deadlines in the same week | 31 students | "In week 7 I had three deadlines and an exam." |
| Content: SPSS goes too fast | 17 students | "SPSS was explained in one lecture. That was too fast." |
| Practice: real cases work | 24 students | "The case from practice helped me more than the book." |

## Students already tell you a lot. Here's how to get more out of it.

| How it often goes | With Febaso |
| --- | --- |
| Collecting works. What happens to the open answers is another question: there are hundreds and time is limited. | Every answer read and grouped into themes, with the count and the verbatim quotes next to it. |
| An evaluation now can lead to a change only a year or two later. By then the students are gone. | The themes are there while the term runs, so you can adjust before it ends. |
| Reporting back to students differs per programme: through the learning environment, a newsletter, in person, or not yet. | Febaso helps you report back per theme, in the student's language, without you knowing who it was. We build this together with the first programmes. |
| A questionnaire by email gets little back. Taking part needs a moment. | A QR code on the screen in the last class: a short conversation on the phone, right when it matters. |
| A score without an explanation, and an open question that stays short or empty. | The why, in the student's own words, with a follow-up when an answer stays vague. |
| International students answer briefly, or not at all, in a language that isn't theirs. | Everyone answers in their own language; you read it in yours, with the original next to it. |
| The data arrives at a fixed moment: the national questionnaire at the end of May, while the yearly plan must be done in February. | Themes at any moment of the year, also between the national questionnaire and your plan. |
| AI through a personal account, or not at all, because privacy isn't settled yet. | Processing your DPO can review: in the EU, never for training, with a data processing agreement. |

## Three things you get alongside your evaluations.

- **Themes with evidence.** Automatic theming with verbatim quotes and clear counts. That keeps the AI checkable: every summary can be traced to the answer itself.
- **Richer feedback through follow-ups.** A short conversation instead of a list. Febaso asks a follow-up when an answer stays vague, so the silent majority gets a say too, anonymously if you choose, and whenever it suits them.
- **Privacy-by-design from the Netherlands.** Processing in the EU, no training on student data, and the institution stays the owner. Built with knowledge of the national student questionnaire, the accreditation framework and the GDPR.

## A conversation that helps you have the conversation, not a quality meter.

- **Not a quality meter.** Satisfaction is something other than educational quality, and the people who run evaluations say so themselves. Febaso shows what students experience and why. What that means for quality is for you to weigh, with your other sources.
- **The student's view counts.** Students know very well what they experience. That's why their words come first, with counts next to them, and no score that claims more than it can.
- **Febaso organises, you decide.** The AI groups and summarises, and shows per theme how many students raised it and what they said verbatim. Human first, AI second, human as the final check. What you do with it stays with the programme and the teaching team.
- **Safe for teachers.** An evaluation is not an appraisal. We design Febaso so that you decide who sees which level of results, and so that a teacher doesn't have to carry the hardest feedback alone.
- **Small is small.** With a class of fifteen you read everything yourself. Febaso pays off with dozens to hundreds of answers per course, and across several courses at once.
- **The conversation stays human work.** Finding time for the conversation in the team, and deciding, no AI can do. Febaso speeds up the reading and the reporting back, not the discussion.

## An addition, not a replacement.

You work with your own mix: a questionnaire platform, the national student questionnaire, Power BI or Excel, and a learning environment. Febaso replaces none of it.

- **Alongside your standard questionnaire.** Keep your institution-wide questionnaire for comparability across years. Febaso asks the why and adds to the open questions.
- **Alongside the national questionnaires.** Those arrive as one big batch at the end of May. Febaso delivers themes at any moment of the year, so your yearly plan doesn't wait for one measurement.
- **In class or in your learning environment.** A QR code in the last class, or a link in Brightspace, Canvas or Moodle. Students install nothing.
- **Results in your reporting.** Take the themes, counts and quotes into your report or dashboard. How that fits best, we work out together in the first round.

## Proof first, procurement later: small and scoped.

You don't have to pick a tool before you know what it delivers. A pilot measurement is a one-off, low-threshold trial on one course or term, with a report and a debrief.

1. **Pick one course or term.** Ideally an evaluation that was planned anyway, at a programme that wants to try.
2. **We set up the interview.** Based on your question and your existing questionnaire. You review it and adjust.
3. **Students answer.** In class through a QR code, or through a link. You see the themes while it runs.
4. **Report and debrief.** You get a report with themes, counts and quotes and discuss it with us. Then you decide with the team what to do with it.

Want to discuss it internally first? Ask for the one-pager: privacy, time, choice of target group and a business case. After that we look together at whether and how it can grow, including how it fits your AI policy, privacy and procurement.

## What each role gets from it.

- **Quality officer.** Hundreds of open answers processed in time, with every conclusion traceable to the quote. It works out of the box, no learning curve.
- **Policy adviser.** One way of working across programmes, with themes you lay next to the national questionnaire and your own figures.
- **Programme manager and committee.** A clear first round that starts small, and the themes on the table while they still matter.
- **Teachers.** Concrete points in the students' own words, including what went well, without carrying the hardest feedback alone.
- **Students.** A short conversation whenever it suits them, in their own language, and a clear view of what happens with their words.
- **Privacy and IT.** Processing in the EU, a data processing agreement with every subprocessor, and nothing to install.

## It started with listening.

For his graduation research, founder Bryan Bakker spoke with thirteen people who run evaluations and quality assurance in Dutch higher and vocational education. Febaso had earlier run pilots within the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. This kept coming back: no shortage of feedback, only of time to act on it in time.

- 13/13: named processing open answers a bottleneck
- 11/13: find the feedback to students weak
- 8/13: want AI that groups open answers into themes
- 7/13: say satisfaction is not the same as quality

> "The collecting all works out fine, but what is done with it exactly, well." (Policy adviser quality assurance, higher education (translated from Dutch))

> "An evaluation of a module that takes place now can lead to a change in two years." (Policy adviser, higher education (translated from Dutch))

> "To say that students don't know what quality of education is… Students really know very well." (Education and quality adviser, higher education (translated from Dutch))

Graduation research by Bryan Bakker (Creative Business, HvA), March to June 2026: thirteen interviews at twelve institutions, thematically analysed. Quotes anonymised. The findings were shared with the participants.

## Privacy and trust

- **Processing in the EU.** And never used to train AI models. The institution stays the owner of the data.
- **Anonymous when you choose.** You choose per interview whether answers are anonymous. Anonymous means you never see who said what.
- **Open about the AI.** Students know from the first message that they are talking to an AI.
- **Traceable.** Every theme shows the count and the verbatim quotes.

[Read how we handle privacy](https://febaso.com/privacy)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Febaso replace our evaluation system or the national questionnaire?

No. Febaso works alongside your questionnaire, the national questionnaire and the sector monitor. You keep your standard questionnaire for comparison across years; Febaso adds the conversation that holds the why.

### Does Febaso measure educational quality?

No, and we don't claim it. Satisfaction is something other than quality. Febaso shows what students experience and why, in their own words and with counts. What that means for quality is for you to weigh with your other sources.

### Will our DPO allow this?

Answers are processed in the EU and never used to train AI models. Every institution signs a data processing agreement with a list of every subprocessor, and stays the owner of the data. Your DPO gets all the information they need from us, and we're glad to think along about how this fits your privacy policy.

### We already have our own AI licence or a strict AI policy. Does this fit?

We talk that through in the intro. Some institutions already work through their own cloud licence, others wait for policy. We look at what fits together, and you don't have to run the first round on a personal account.

### How do I know the AI isn't making things up?

You don't have to take our word for it. Every theme shows how many students raised it and their verbatim quotes, so every summary can be traced to the answer itself. You can also spot-check a few quotes to see whether the theme holds.

### Is it anonymous, even in a small group?

You choose per interview. Choose anonymous, and names never appear next to answers. Whoever wants to hear back leaves a contact detail that is stored apart from the answers. In a very small group an answer can be recognisable by its content; we look at that together when setting up.

### What if students sit it out or answer 'neutral' to everything?

The conversation is short and only follows up when an answer stays vague. You decide per question how often. Whoever wants to avoid it doesn't get endless follow-ups: the follow-up is deliberately limited and stays an invitation, not an interrogation.

### What do teachers see, and what not?

You set that. We design Febaso so that evaluation and appraisal stay separate: a teacher sees the results of their own course, and you decide who else looks along. That way a teacher doesn't have to carry the hardest feedback alone.

### How about reporting back to students?

That's where Febaso is heading: one message per theme to the students who raised it, in their own language, without you knowing who they are. We develop this part together with the first programmes, so you can help decide how it looks.

### Can we compare with last year?

Yes. Ask the same questions every round, and you follow themes across rounds and see whether a theme grows or disappears.

### Won't this take too much of our capacity?

That's the point. You set up an interview in one sentence and Febaso does the reading and grouping. Many programmes have one person on quality; that's why the first round starts small.

### Can we start small?

Yes. One course or one term is enough to see what it delivers. It is a web app, so there is nothing to install. In an intro we agree on a scoped pilot measurement.

## Start with one course, or meet us first.

In a thirty-minute intro you talk to me, Bryan, founder of Febaso. We discuss your situation, I show Febaso live and we agree on a scoped pilot measurement.

- [Book an intro](https://febaso.com/industries/education#contact)