Student satisfaction at a nine-year high

The satisfaction rate among students studying at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) remains high, with 85% of respondents to this year's National Student Survey (NSS) saying they are satisfied overall with their course. A further 7% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their higher education experience, while 7% were dissatisfied.

In each of the six core question areas covered by the survey, satisfaction has either improved or stayed the same compared with 2012. ‘The teaching on my course’ continues to be the question area that scores the highest, with an overall satisfaction rate of 86%. Satisfaction with ‘Learning resources’ reached 84%, representing a 2 percentage point improvement from the previous year.

The question area for which students have consistently expressed the lowest level of satisfaction, ‘Assessment and feedback’, continued to show improvement in 2013, with satisfaction rising from 70% to 72%. This category has seen particular levels of improvement since the survey began in 2005 (61%). Around 67% of students stated that they are satisfied with the services offered by the Student’s Union, Association or Guild at their institution.

This year over 304,000 final-year students from across the UK took part in the NSS, (Note 1). This represents a response rate of 68.6%, the highest rate in the nine years that the NSS has been running. 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 universities, colleges and students. The results are a testament to high quality standards in UK Higher Education, which the ninth NSS confirms once again. The NSS allows students to make genuine choices and compare courses/institutions on the issues that matter. Institutions use the NSS results to assess their strengths and weaknesses, benchmark against peer institutions, improve the student experience and overall standards and attract prospective students.”

The NSS is an annual survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of HEFCE and the other funding bodies. These figures, taken in 2013, come from the latest survey of around 304,000 final year undergraduates in the UK. A summary of the results is shown in a table below. More details about the NSS are available on our website. More detailed data are available on the HEFCE website.

Questions	2012	2013
1-4	The teaching on my course	86%	86%
5-9	Assessment and feedback	70%	72%
10-12	Academic support	79%	80%
13-15	Organisation and management	77%	78%
16-18	Learning resources	82%	84%
19-21	Personal development	81%	82%
22	Overall satisfaction	85%	85%
24	Student Union	69%	67%

 

Notes

1. The NSS covers nearly all final-year undergraduates studying for higher education qualifications at HEIs (including the independent University of Buckingham) and FECs in England and Wales, HEIs in Northern Ireland and 18 institutions in Scotland. Students on initial teacher training courses funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, and students studying NHS-funded subjects, are also included. The threshold for publication at each institution is that at least 23 students must have responded, and that these represent at least half the students eligible to participate.
2. Satisfaction is calculated using the combination of the percentage of students responding “Definitely Agree” and “Mostly Agree” to the question area. Calculations exclude None Applicable responses.