National Student Survey Results Show Students are Happier Than Ever!

HEFCE has published the results of the 2017 National Student Survey. Over 300,000 final-year students took part in the survey, around 68 per cent of those eligible. Of these, 84 per cent were satisfied with the overall quality of their courses.

Student satisfaction with teaching is high, with 85 per cent of students agreeing that teaching staff are good at explaining things and make the subject interesting, and that they are intellectually stimulated and challenged to achieve their best work.

84 per cent of students agree that they are provided with learning opportunities such as exploring ideas in depth and applying what they have learnt. Some 77 per cent agree that they feel part of a learning community and have the right opportunities to work with other students.

Professor Sir David Bell, Chair of the Student Information Advisory Group, said ‘These excellent results show that our universities and colleges continue to offer a high-quality experience for their students. The National Student Survey is instrumental in driving improvements across an increasingly diverse higher education sector. It also plays a key role in supporting student choice. The revised survey which has been run in 2017 offers new insights on student engagement, a crucial component of a successful experience in higher education.’

A summary table of results for the UK is shown below. More detailed data is available through the HEFCE website. Prospective students will be able to compare NSS results and other relevant information on the Unistats website from September.

Percentage of students who selected 'definitely' or 'mostly agree' on the survey

The teaching on my course 85%

Learning opportunities 84%

Assessment and feedback 73%

Academic support 80%

Organisation and management 75%

Learning resources 85%

Learning community 77%

Student voice 73%

Student union 57%

Responding to the survey NUS Vice President (Higher Education) Amatey Doku said “The government wanted to use today’s NSS results to allow universities which scored highly to raise fees from £9,000 to over £10,000 by 2020 as part of their draconian reforms to higher education.
"Our membership made it clear to us that they found this unacceptable and demanded we campaign to sever any link between their crude Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and a rise in tuition fees which would hit students hard."

"Figures released today demonstrate just how easily this data can be skewed and how unreliable they are as a measure of teaching quality within this framework. This serves as a reminder that students are opposed to soaring tuition fees and are ready to use their power to challenge any ill-thought changes to the sector which will ultimately see them losing out."

"The government has promised a complete independent review of the TEF and we look forward to contributing to that process, putting forward a positive vision of what students actually think teaching excellence looks like and crucially, severing the link with TEF and higher fees. However this is not enough, NUS is asking for a comprehensive review of the student finance system in its totality. Currently students from the poorest 40% of families are emerging with the highest debts of £57,000.”