The National Student Survey 2016: Student participation on the rise, satisfaction scores remain high

Ipsos has delivered the twelfth National Student Survey for HEFCE on behalf of the UK funding bodies and the 2016 survey has been a successful study yet again. Participation was at another all-time record high with 72% of eligible students completing the survey, giving a comprehensive picture of the undergraduate educational experience in the UK’s universities, alternative providers and colleges.

The NSS 2016 was conducted between January and April with more than 312,000 final-year students taking part, from 155 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), 13 Alternative Providers (APs) and 190 Further Education Colleges/Institutions (FECs/FEIs) from across the UK (Note 1).

Results

The satisfaction rate for students remains high with 86% of students in agreement with the statement “Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of my course” (combination of ‘Definitely Agree’ and ‘Mostly Agree’) in this year's NSS. A further 7% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their higher education experience; 5% were dissatisfied and 3% were strongly dissatisfied.

Sami Benyahia, National Student Survey Research Director at Ipsos, said:

"Twelve years on and the National Student Survey continues to attract very high levels of participation and strong evidence that students value their courses. Satisfaction remains high and the results are very much in line with last year’s results. Ipsos is proud to deliver the last NSS in its current format and is pleased to see the survey response rate achieve a record high level despite a universal decline seen in other large high quality social surveys. The NSS is unique as it gives current students a voice and prospective students high quality information."

A summary table of results for the UK is shown below. More detailed data are available through the HEFCE website.

The National Student Survey (NSS) is a census of final-year undergraduates in the UK, which aims to gather students’ opinions on the quality of their courses and to measure their satisfaction with various aspects of their academic experience. Prospective students will be able to compare NSS results and other relevant information on the Unistats website from the end of August (Note 2). The NSS results provide valuable information for prospective students, and help universities and colleges to further improve the education they provide. Notes

1. The NSS covers nearly all final-year undergraduates studying for higher education qualifications at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Alternative Providers (APs) and Further Education Colleges/Institutions (FECs/FEIs) in England and Wales, and HEIs in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The survey is funded by the four UK Higher Education funding bodies (the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland), the National College of Teaching and Leadership and Health Education England. HEIs in Scotland and participating APs fund their own participation in the survey. The threshold for publication at each institution is at least 10 responding students; these should also represent at least half the students eligible to participate overall and in each individual cohort.
2. The Unistats web-site will be updated with the 2016 NSS results on 31 August. Unistats is the official site to search for and compare data and information on Higher and Further Education courses from across the UK. The site draws together comparable information on those areas that students have identified as important in making decisions about what and where to study. The data are provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Skills Funding Agency, the Welsh Government, universities, alternative providers and colleges, and Ipsos (National Student Survey).