Ever improving satisfaction rates shown by the 2012 National Student Survey
In the midst of the recession, high unemployment, higher tuition fees and falling student application numbers, Higher Education courses are still highly rated by students. According to the National Student Survey (NSS), conducted by Ipsos and commissioned by HEFCE, 85% of students graduating are satisfied with their course. This is the highest overall satisfaction rate recorded since the first year of the NSS in 2005.
In each of the question categories covered by the survey, satisfaction has improved since 2011. The question area for which students have consistently expressed the lowest level of satisfaction, ‘Assessment and feedback’, has improved from 68% to 70% this year and represents a great improvement on 61%, seen in 2005.
A new question was asked in the NSS this year about satisfaction with the Students’ Union (SU). Of the students who responded 66% said they are satisfied with their SU.
‘The teaching on my course’ continues to be the question area that’s scores the highest with an overall satisfaction rate of 86%. This represents a two percent improvement on last year.
This year, in excess of a quarter of a million students took part in the NSS, representing 67% of final year undergraduates eligible for the survey and the largest response rate achieved in the eight years of the NSS. The NSS continues to grow in importance as a measure of course quality as experienced by students and informing student choices.
Sami Benyahia, Director of the NSS at Ipsos, said:
“The NSS is taken seriously by all stakeholders including universities, colleges and students. The improving results of the survey are a testament to high quality standards in UK Higher Education. Faced with a multitude of options, institutions and teaching styles, the NSS allows students to make genuine choices and compare courses/institutions on the issues that matter to them. For institutions, it allows them to assess their own strengths and weaknesses, benchmark against peer institutions, improve standards and attract prospective national and international students.”
The NSS is an annual survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of HEFCE and the other funding bodies. These figures, taken in 2012, come from the latest survey of around 289,000 final year undergraduates in the UK. A summary of the results is shown in a table below. More details are available on our website www.ipsos-mori.com/nss or on the Unistats website unistats.direct.gov.uk which gives data on all students in the survey.
2011/2012 NSS results for the UK
| 2011 NSS | 2012 NSS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questions Categories | Satisfied | Neither sat. nor dissat. | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Neither sat. nor dissat. | Dissatisfied |
| The teaching on my course | 84% | 10% | 6% | 86% | 9% | 5% |
| Assessment and feedback | 68% | 16% | 16% | 70% | 15% | 15% |
| Academic support | 77% | 13% | 10% | 79% | 12% | 9% |
| Organisation and management | 75% | 12% | 13% | 77% | 11% | 12% |
| Learning resources | 80% | 11% | 9% | 82% | 10% | 8% |
| Personal development | 80% | 14% | 6% | 81% | 13% | 5% |
| Overall satisfaction | 83% | 8% | 9% | 85% | 8% | 8% |
| Students' Union | - | - | - | 66% | 24% | 10% |
| NHS practice elements | 84% | 9% | 7% | 85% | 8% | 6% |
Percentages exclude ‘None Applicable’ responses and may not sum due to rounding.
