National Student Survey 2014 results show record levels of satisfaction

Students are most satisfied with teaching, least happy with assessment and feedback

August 12, 2014

Campus universities have continued to perform highly in the 2014 National Student Survey as undergraduate satisfaction scores hit a 10-year high.

Some 86 per cent of the 321,000 final-year undergraduates who responded to this year’s survey said they were satisfied overall with their course, up from 85 per cent last year.

Only 5 per cent said they were dissatisfied and 2 per cent were strongly dissatisfied, while 7 per cent were neither happy nor unhappy about their course, according to the results of the survey published on 12 August.

Excluding small and specialist institutions, three universities shared the top spot in this year’s survey, gaining a 93 per cent approval rating: the University of Bath, Keele University and the University of St Andrews.

In joint fourth place are the University of Exeter, the University of East Anglia, and two private universities – the not-for-profit University of Buckingham and The University of Law, which was bought by private equity firm Montagu for about £180 million in 2012. Each scored 92 per cent in student satisfaction scores.

That meant the five best rated public universities were all campus institutions.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge were joint eighth on 91 per cent, alongside the universities of Bangor, Coventry, Durham, Essex, Glasgow, Kent, Newcastle, Surrey, and the Open University.

Overall, the highest ranking higher education institution is the Courtauld Institute of Art, in central London, which gained a 100 per cent approval rating from its students, up from 76 per cent in 2013.

Institutions in London again fared relatively poorly, with Ravensbourne, the University of the Arts London and London Metropolitan University scoring the lowest in the country (68, 71 and 76 per cent respectively).

Madeleine Atkins, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, said she was “delighted to see record levels of student satisfaction this year” and the “marked improvements in satisfaction with assessment and feedback over the last decade”.

Reflecting on the NSS, which was launched in 2004, she added that “over the last 10 years, [the NSS] has helped over two million students to make their voices heard about the things that matter to them, and has been fundamental to driving change in our universities and colleges”.

Overall, teaching was rated most highly by students out of the six categories assessed, with 87 per cent of students happy with the course, up from 86 per cent last year.

Assessment and feedback was again rated the lowest by students, with just 72 per cent saying they were satisfied with this, the same level as last year.

Greg Clark, the universities minister, said: “It is great to see student satisfaction rates with their university experience are continuing to rise.

“It is vital that higher education institutions further enhance teaching quality and improve the experience they offer to students.”

jack.grove@tsleducation.com

National Student Survey 2014: UK results

		National Student Survey 2013	National Student Survey 2014
	Questions	Satisfied*	Satisfied
1-4	The teaching on my course	86%	87%
5-8	Assessment and feedback	72%	72%
9-12	Academic support	80%	81%
13-15	Organisation and management	78%	78%
16-18	Learning resources	84%	85%
19-21	Personal development	82%	82%
22	Overall satisfaction	85%	86%

* The percentage satisfied is calculated by combining the ‘strongly agree’ and ‘mostly agree’ responses.

National Student Survey 2014: results by institution

Institution	2014 satisfaction score	2013 satisfaction score
Courtauld Institute of Art	100	76
Brighton and Sussex Medical School	96	95
University of Bath	93	94
Keele University	93	93
University of St Andrews	93	93
University of East Anglia	92	93
University of Exeter	92	91
Hull and York Medical School	92	88
University of Buckingham	92	93
The University of Law Limited	92	N/A
University of Cambridge	91	92
Coventry University	91	90
Durham University	91	90
University of Essex	91	93
University of Kent	91	90
Newcastle University	91	90
Open University	91	92
University of Oxford	91	91
University of Surrey	91	92
University of Glasgow	91	89
Bangor University	91	86
Stranmillis University College	91	88
Harper Adams University	90	90
Rose Bruford College	90	87
University of Dundee	90	88
Aston University	89	89
Bath Spa University	89	87
Birkbeck, University of London	89	86
University of Birmingham	89	88
Brunel University London	89	87
University of Chichester	89	85
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	89	87
University of Hull	89	90
Lancaster University	89	90
University of Leicester	89	89
Loughborough University	89	88
University of Northampton	89	88
Norwich University of the Arts	89	88
Oxford Brookes University	89	87
University of Reading	89	89
Royal Academy of Music	89	88
Royal College of Music	89	80
Royal Holloway, University of London	89	89
University of Sheffield	89	90
University of Warwick	89	87
University of Winchester	89	89
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland	89	84
SRUC	89	80
University of Strathclyde	89	86
Cardiff University	89	89
Swansea University	89	86
Bishop Grosseteste University	88	85
University of Chester	88	88
University of Leeds	88	87
Leeds Trinity University	88	86
Newman University	88	91
University of Nottingham	88	88
Soas, University of London	88	88
University of Portsmouth	88	88
Royal Veterinary College	88	89
University of Ulster	88	88
University College Birmingham	87	85
Goldsmiths, University of London	87	88
Imperial College London	87	87
Nottingham Trent University	87	86
Heriot-Watt University	87	90
Robert Gordon University	87	87
University of Stirling	87	87
Arts University Bournemouth	86	87
Canterbury Christ Church University	86	85
University of Derby	86	86
Edge Hill University	86	87
University of Greenwich	86	86
Guildhall School of Music & Drama	86	81
University of Lincoln	86	84
University College London	86	84
Queen Mary University of London	86	89
University of Roehampton	86	86
University of St Mark and St John	86	90
St Mary’s University, Twickenham	86	85
Sheffield Hallam University	86	83
University of Southampton	86	87
University of York	86	89
University of Aberdeen	86	87
Queen Margaret University	86	83
Cardiff Metropolitan University	86	85
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama	86	N/A
Queen’s University Belfast	86	90
Anglia Ruskin University	85	79
De Montfort University	85	83
University of Huddersfield	85	86
University of Liverpool	85	88
Liverpool John Moores University	85	84
University of Manchester	85	85
Middlesex University	85	82
Northumbria University	85	86
Plymouth University	85	86
St George’s, University of London	85	78
University of Sussex	85	89
Teesside University	85	85
Medway School of Pharmacy	85	97
Edinburgh Napier University	85	84
University of Bedfordshire	84	80
University of Bristol	84	87
University of Central Lancashire	84	84
University of Cumbria	84	83
University of Gloucestershire	84	80
Heythrop College	84	86
Staffordshire University	84	83
University of the West of England	84	86
York St John University	84	88
Abertay University	84	84
Glasgow Caledonian University	84	84
University of the Highlands and Islands	84	84
University of the West of Scotland	84	84
Birmingham City University	83	82
University of Bradford	83	85
City University London	83	86
University of East London	83	79
University of Hertfordshire	83	80
King’s College London	83	81
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts	83	72
London School of Economics and Political Science	83	88
Manchester Metropolitan University	83	84
Royal Agricultural University	83	84
Universities of East Anglia and Essex; Joint Provision at University Campus Suffolk	83	83
University of Sunderland	83	84
University of Worcester	83	85
Aberystwyth University	83	83
University of Brighton	82	86
Falmouth University	82	79
Liverpool Hope University	82	82
University of West London	82	80
University of Edinburgh	82	82
University of Bolton	81	78
Plymouth College of Art	81	79
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama	81	85
University of Westminster	81	80
University of Wales Trinity Saint David	81	76
Bournemouth University	80	80
Leeds College of Art	80	85
Leeds Metropolitan University	80	81
London South Bank University	80	82
University of Wolverhampton	80	83
Writtle College	80	84
University of South Wales	80	81
Southampton Solent University	79	77
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance	79	81
Bucks New University	78	78
Kingston University	78	80
University of Salford	78	79
Glasgow School of Art	78	80
Glyndwr University	78	82
University for the Creative Arts	77	73
Royal Northern College of Music	77	91
London Metropolitan University	76	72
University of the Arts London	71	74
Ravensbourne	68	64

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Reader's comments (3)

#1 Submitted by Jim_sta on August 12, 2014 - 12:57pm

Point of clarification. St Andrews is not a campus University. Its part of the town.

#2 Submitted by epalmer on August 13, 2014 - 12:59pm

How come there are no HE within FE institution's listed?

#3 Submitted by ekmorris on August 14, 2014 - 1:12pm

Emma -- a really good question! At the moment the vast majority of HE programmes delivered in FE institutions are accredited by partnerships with HE institutions so those students' responses will be included in the stats for the accereditating university. I can't speak to individual cases/anomalies though. EKM, Chester

National Student Survey 2014 results show record levels of satisfaction

Students are most satisfied with teaching, least happy with assessment and feedback

National Student Survey 2014: UK results

National Student Survey 2014: results by institution

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National Student Survey 2014 results show record levels of satisfaction

Students are most satisfied with teaching, least happy with assessment and feedback

National Student Survey 2014: UK results

National Student Survey 2014: results by institution

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Reader's comments (3)

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