National Student Survey 2020: overall satisfaction results

The full results for UK universities ranked by student satisfaction in the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS)

July 15 2020

Email: seeta.bhardwa@timeshighereducation.com

Brighton and Sussex Medical School is one of the top universities for student satisfaction, according to the 2020 National Student Survey.

The small medical institution has overtaken the University of St Andrews as the university that students are most satisfied with. The Scottish institution dropped to second place this year, with its overall satisfaction score falling three percentage points, to 92.73 per cent.

Notable absences from the table include the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

About 310,000 students from 396 universities, colleges and other providers completed the 2020 National Student Survey. This was down from the 330,000 students who did the survey last year.

The survey was made up of 27 questions covering teaching on the course, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources, learning community, student voice and student union.

Students were also asked to give their university an overall satisfaction score. The table below shows how all the eligible UK higher education institutions (not including further education colleges and alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers) performed on this measure. It shows the percentage of students who “definitely” or “mostly” agreed that they were satisfied with course quality.

The Office for Students (which runs the survey) analysed this year's data to determine whether the Covid-19 pandemic had had any impact on the results, and concluded “that the results could be published in full, without any exceptional adjustment to account for the impact of the pandemic”.

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National Student Survey (NSS) 2020: overall student satisfaction results

NSS Rank	University	Overall Satisfaction Score (%)
1	Brighton and Sussex Medical School	96.43
2	University of St Andrews	92.73
3	Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	92.31
4	Writtle University College	91.77
5	University of Law	90.73
6	Stranmillis University College	90.72
7	Harper Adams University	90.41
8	Robert Gordon University	89.96
9	Aberystwyth University	89.87
10	Guildhall School of Music and Drama	89.78
11	Abertay University	89.15
12	Swansea University	88.87
13	Royal Academy of Music	88.71
14	Loughborough University	88.65
15	University of Bath	88.31
16	University of London Institute in Paris	88.24
17	University of the West of England	88.15
18	Royal Veterinary College	88.01
19	University of Buckingham	87.88
20	Arts University Bournemouth	87.84
21	University of Dundee	87.61
22	Hull York Medical School	87.5
23	Durham University	87.31
24	University of Lincoln	87.19
25	Royal Holloway, University of London	87.15
26	Nottingham Trent University	87.13
27	University of Glasgow	87.08
28	University of Stirling	86.85
29	Newman University	86.72
30	Lancaster University	86.71
31	University of Aberdeen	86.69
=32	University of Chester	86.36
=32	University of Strathclyde	86.36
34	University of West London	86.34
35	University of East Anglia	86.27
36	University of Portsmouth	86.23
37	St Mary's University	85.9
38	University of Exeter	85.74
39	Edinburgh Napier University	85.71
40	University of Worcester	85.47
41	University of York	85.39
42	York St John University	85.35
43	Bishop Grosseteste University	85.3
44	University of Sheffield	85.28
45	Glasgow Caledonian University	85.23
46	University of Warwick	85.13
47	Keele University	85.07
48	University of the West of Scotland	84.94
49	University of Plymouth	84.92
50	University of Southampton	84.91
51	Bangor University	84.9
52	University of Chichester	84.81
53	Leeds Beckett University	84.8
54	Staffordshire University	84.76
55	University of Derby	84.73
56	Cardiff Metropolitan University	84.61
57	Heriot-Watt University	84.35
58	University of Hull	84.18
59	University of Liverpool	84.14
60	Liverpool Hope University	84.11
61	University of Bolton	84.01
62	Royal College of Music	84
63	Liverpool John Moores University	83.8
64	London School of Economics and Political Science	83.72
65	University College Birmingham	83.67
66	University of Reading	83.64
67	Bucks New University	83.48
68	University College of Estate Management	83.44
69	Aston University	83.37
70	Ulster University	83.36
71	Royal Agricultural University	83.27
=72	Manchester Metropolitan University	83.22
=72	University of Wales Trinity Saint David	83.22
74	Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts	82.87
75	Leeds Arts University	82.83
76	University of Birmingham	82.75
77	Solent University	82.75
=78	University of Kent	82.6
=78	University of Leicester	82.6
80	Queen Margaret University	82.59
81	Birkbeck, University of London	82.58
82	Coventry University	82.53
83	Sheffield Hallam University	82.46
84	University of Leeds	82.37
85	University of Sunderland	82.34
86	University of Roehampton	82.26
87	University of the Highlands and Islands	82.22
88	University of Essex	82.21
89	Newcastle University	82.12
90	University of Hertfordshire	82
91	University of Nottingham	81.91
92	University of Bristol	81.72
93	Teesside University	81.65
94	Anglia Ruskin University ARU	81.54
95	Leeds Trinity University	81.44
96	Cardiff University	81.43
97	Imperial College London	81.37
98	Regent's University London	81.3
=99	Oxford Brookes University	81.28
=99	University of South Wales	81.28
101	Royal Northern College of Music	81.25
102	University of Manchester	81.12
103	Falmouth University	81.09
104	Northumbria University	81.03
=105	Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance	81.02
=105	University of Winchester	81.02
107	University of Sussex	81
108	Queen's University of Belfast	80.98
109	Kingston University	80.78
110	Norwich University of the Arts	80.71
111	Arden University	80.68
=112	University of Gloucestershire	80.67
=112	University of Wolverhampton	80.67
114	UCL	80.61
115	Wrexham Glyndŵr University	80.59
116	University for the Creative Arts	80.44
117	Queen Mary University of London	80.36
118	Birmingham City University	80.31
119	Bournemouth University	80.19
120	London Metropolitan University	79.97
121	Plymouth Marjon University	79.94
122	University of Westminster	79.83
123	University of Cumbria	79.78
124	London South Bank University	79.54
125	University of Northampton	79.41
126	University of Surrey	79.23
127	University of Salford	79.12
128	University of Greenwich	78.86
129	De Montfort University	78.63
130	University of Huddersfield	78.13
131	Bath Spa University	78.06
132	St George's, Hospital Medical School	77.81
133	Edge Hill University	77.8
134	University of East London	77.69
135	Brunel University London	77.58
136	University of Edinburgh	77.57
137	King's College London	77.5
138	SOAS University of London	77.45
140	Canterbury Christ Church University	77.41
141	University of Bradford	77.21
142	Middlesex University	77.04
143	University of Central Lancashire	76.34
144	University of Suffolk	75.97
145	University of Brighton	75.62
146	The London Institute of Banking and Finance	75.61
147	City, University of London	74.2
148	University of Bedfordshire	74.02
149	Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama	73.74
150	University of the Arts	70.79
151	Ravensbourne	67.46
152	University College of Osteopathy	64.06
153	Rose Bruford College	60.71
154	Glasgow School of Art	57.66

Table note: this table does not include further education colleges and alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers