October 2012
Featured in this insight: Education
Poll discovers UK student satisfaction: The National Student Survey, commissioned annually by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), has discovered that 85% of UK students are content with their university courses.
Around 287,000 final year undergraduates responded to the poll, which asks them about several aspects of their university experience. Students from over 300 universities and further education colleges in the UK participated, revealing that student satisfaction is at an all-time high since the introduction of the survey in 2005.
The crown of the happiest students goes to St Mary’s University College Belfast, an institution that specialises in courses for teacher training, with 98% of its students claiming to be satisfied. The Open University also impressed, with 93% of its students satisfied.
This year was the first that students were also asked for feedback on their students’ unions; with 66% revealing that they were satisfied. The section of the survey for which students have consistently declared the least satisfactory, ‘Assessment and Feedback’, has seen an increase from 68% to 70% since last year.
In 2012, the NSS had a response rate of 67%, the highest rate in the past eight years. Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England said:
"This year’s excellent results underline the commitment of universities and colleges to excellence in teaching and learning and improving the all-round student experience."
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