The UNITE Student Experience Report 2005

This is the fifth UNITE 'Student Experience Report', the most comprehensive study of the views, concerns, attitudes and aspirations of today's full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK.

The key findings of the fifth survey include:

The majority of students are happy and contented

• They enjoy the freedom to live as they want and consider going to university to be a worthwhile experience. Those who live away from home are the happiest, enjoying the freedom to live as they choose.
• On the downside, increasing proportions are feeling stressed since coming to university. Financial constraints are likely to be adding to the stress factor with little money, debt and the lack of a regular income being the three worst aspects of student life.

They are generally happy with their course and their choice of university

• The most important factor in the choice of university is the actual course on offer. Other important factors influencing the decision are the academic reputation and the feel of the university, based on experience of visiting.
• Almost nine in 10 have a positive view ('very' or 'fairly favourable') of their university.
• Most continue to feel that their course either meets or exceeds their expectations. Coursework appears to be less demanding than it was five years ago, with fewer feeling 'fully' stretched.

Citizenship & voting intentions

• Three in 10 report they have involved themselves in charitable work; previous research suggests that more would become involved if they had the time. Twice as many say they have donated money to charity as have themselves been involved in charity work.
• A sizeable proportion are undecided about how they will vote in the next General Election. Six in 10 believe the Government to be out of touch with students, although this is an improvement on last year's study when the debate about top-up fees was at its height.
• Students who state a preference are most likely to support the Liberal Democrats (34%) followed by Labour (28%) and the Tories have a one in five share of the vote.

Student Finances

• Money or lack of it, are the worst aspects of student life. However, most students consider themselves to be good at organizing their finances and feel that they are keeping up without many difficulties.
• As more and more students feel confident about their ability to manage their finances, fewer worry about the debts they will incur at university than at any time since this series of surveys commenced. Three in 10 express concern about their debts, at the same time, half feel they can put off thinking about them until they get a job.
• The majority of students regard spending on a university education as worthwhile and a good investment for their future.

Life After University

• The majority of students aim to start working as soon as they graduate and are optimistic about their chances of getting work.
• Students are confident about their prospects, despite growing concerns that increasing numbers of graduates will make it harder for them to get jobs. However, final year students are generally less optimistic, as they approach the reality of entering the job market.

• Topline Results - pdf document, 268K
• The UNITE student Experience Report 2005 - pdf document, 2MB
• UNITE Student Living - ppt document, 4MB

Technical details

This is the fifth wave of UNITE's Student Experience Report. MORI conducted 1,007 face-to-face interviews with full-time undergraduate and post-graduate students between 25 October and 24 November 2004. 20 Universities were selected from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The selection of universities was representative of region and type of university (old and new). The sample profile of students has been consistent across all five waves of the study and fieldwork is conducted at the same time each year.