Results from this year's National Student Survey, released today, show an increase almost across the board in overall student satisfaction.
The Survey asks final year higher education students (including, for the first time, those studying in further education colleges) for their opinion on their time of study. It is commisioned annually by HEFCE and is supported by, amongst others, NUS.
Aaron Porter, NUS’ Vice-President (Higher Education), said: “It’s very good news that students are expressing greater satisfaction with their experience at university. This shows how important the National Student Survey has been in bringing about institutional change to the benefit of students. We are particularly pleased to see progress in the area of assessment and feedback, as students have expressed concern about this in previous surveys.
“It’s very useful that higher education students studying in further education colleges have been included in the survey for the first time. The National Student Survey has already driven change in higher education institutions, and we hope that, having identified some areas for improvement, it will now do the same in further education (FE) institutions. Eight per cent of all higher education students are studying in FE colleges. It is important that higher education students receive the same standard of experience, regardless of where they study.”
Feedback remains the area of primary concern for all students, with just over a third rating the marking and assessment of their work poorly. However, most of the areas evaluated have shown gains of between one and three per cent - almost none have seen falling scores since the 2007 survey and overall satisfaction remains high, at 82 per cent.