The majority of students say they are satisfied with their university course – despite the introduction of £9,000-per-year tuition fees, according to this year’s National Student Survey (NSS).
From the over 300,000 final-year university and college students who completed the survey, 86 per cent said they felt content with their course experience, which was the same as last year.
This year’s NSS results are the first to include the opinions of undergraduates who began paying 2012’s higher tuition fees.
With 85 per cent being the benchmark to make it into the top 100, Brighton and Sussex Medical School took the top spot with an impressive satisfaction rate of 98 per cent.
A further seven per cent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their higher education experience, five per cent were dissatisfied, and 2 per cent said they were strongly dissatisfied.
However, satisfaction has improved since 2014 in five out of the six groups of questions covered by the survey, and these include: assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources, and personal development.
Director of the NSS at research company Ipsos MORI, Sami Benyahia, described how the company was “very pleased” to see the NSS provide hard evidence that students value their higher education courses, despite fears from some the change in the fee regime would impact on students’ judgements on their course.
Mr Benyahia added: “The NSS is taken very seriously by all the stakeholders – including the students themselves – and gives students a loud voice to say what they think and demand changes to benefit future students.
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The NSS will continue to allow students and their families and advisors to make informed choices about where and which course to study. Continued improvements and high levels of satisfaction will ensure that UK higher education will continue to attract students from the UK and internationally.”
One stark aspect of the results is how the Russell Group of universities fared.
None were placed in the top-ten, with only the University of Oxford and Newcastle University making it into joint eleventh.
Speaking of how the group’s institutions have failed to live up to their elite status in the survey, senior policy and strategy officer at Lancaster University, Adam Child, said: “The Russell Group are not necessarily performing as well as they should.”
The world's top 10 universities
Reflecting on the survey’s results, chief executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) said: “The survey provides detailed and robust data which is used extensively by universities and colleges to improve the quality of their teaching and learning.
“It is also valuable in supporting prospective students and their parents and advisors in helping choose which higher education institution to select.”
Here is the list of the complete top-ten:
1. Brighton and Sussex Medical School – 98 per cent
2. St Mary's University College – 96 per cent
=3. The University of Keele – 95 per cent
=3. Hull and York Medical School – 95 per cent
5. The University of Buckingham – 95 per cent
6. Courtauld Institute of Art – 94 per cent
7. Harper Adams University – 93 per cent
=8. The Royal Veterinary College – 92 per cent
=8. The University of Surrey – 92 per cent
