Study shows overall university satisfaction has increased

July 2014

Study shows overall university satisfaction has increased: Overall university satisfaction levels increased in 2013, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s National Student Survey.

The study’s findings showed that 85% of final year students were pleased with their university experience as a whole – 0.9% more than 2012’s results. Less than one in ten (7%) were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and the same percentage were displeased.

Teaching, learning resources and personal development were the top three pleasing areas, with student unions at the bottom scoring less than 70%.

Around five sixths (86%) of the survey’s 304,030 respondents said they were satisfied with the teaching on their course – the same percentage as in 2012. Almost one in ten (9%) claimed to be dissatisfied with this area in 2013, and 5% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Learning resources (84%) and assessment and feedback (72%) both enjoyed 2% increases in their satisfaction levels.

In 2013, four fifths (80%) said they were happy with the academic support provided by their university – a 1% rise from the previous year’s figure. Just over one in ten (11%) said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 8% stated they were discontent with this area of their university.

Organisation and management earned itself a 1% increase in satisfaction levels from 2012 (77%) to 2013 (78%) and, correspondingly, deducted a single percentage point off its dissatisfaction count. The number of respondents who said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied remained the same in 2012 and 2013 (11%).

Furthermore, personal development edged further up from the four fifths mark with 82% of respondents satisfied with this element in 2013, compared to the 81% who were pleased in 2012.

And, finally, just over two thirds (67%) said they were satisfied with their university’s student union in the latest edition of the survey – 1% more than the previous year’s figure (66%). Around three quarters (23%) were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and one in ten (10%) were discontent.