Student satisfaction rises

Date

The University recorded another uplift in performance in this year's National Student Survey, with 88% of our final year students saying they are satisfied with the quality of their course at Leeds.

The result puts us 2% above the sector average score of 86%. We improved our scores by 1% across the board in all but one of the six question categories, and maintained our score of 71% for Assessment and Feedback. Satisfaction with our students’ union increased by 1% this year to give a score of 91%, well above the sector average of 68%.   

The results also saw us improve our position within the 24 Russell Group institutions and we are now ranked joint 11th with Nottingham, up from 16th place last year. 

With 78% of our eligible students completing the survey, we continue to have one of the highest response rates in the sector, and once again significantly higher than the national response rate which this year was 71%.

The overall picture emerging from the NSS shows that the level of satisfaction amongst students studying at UK universities and colleges is at a 10-year high, with 86% saying they were satisfied with their course. A record number of UK universities and colleges took part in the survey this year, together with 156 higher education (HE) institutions, 166 further education colleges and three private HE providers. 
Background
The 10th National Student Survey (NSS) ran from January to April 2014, and is sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).  Around 321,000 final-year students responded to the survey this year, from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Further Education Colleges (FECs) from across the UK.

The annual survey measures the satisfaction levels of current students, and their experiences give prospective students valuable information that will help them decide what and where to study. 

Final year students were asked to indicate their level of agreement with each of 23 statements using a five point rating scale as follows:
  1. Definitely disagree 
  2. Mostly disagree 
  3. Neither agree or disagree 
  4. Mostly agree 
  5. Definitely agree
More detailed data are available on the HEFCE website. The Unistats website will be updated with the 2014 NSS results later this month.