Ireland’s universities top international student satisfaction rankings

International students are happiest in Ireland, a new Europe-wide survey suggests.

With an average rating of just over 9 out of 10, Irish universities topped this year’s StudyPortals International Student Satisfaction Awards, edging ahead of last year’s leaders, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

The awards are based on reviews submitted by about 17,000 international students studying across Europe, and made by StudyPortals, a Netherlands-based university course site.

The UK was rated 10th in the survey with an average satisfaction rating of 8.75. The winners were announced at the European Association for International Education’s annual conference in Glasgow last week.

France finished bottom of the table with an average rating of 8.2, with complaints continuing to revolve around the poor student services and excessive bureaucracy.

Among the Irish institutions singled out for praise is Maynooth University, one of five universities across Europe to receive an outstanding rating from the organisation based on student responses.

The National University of Ireland, the University of Limerick and University College Cork were rated as  “excellent”, while University College Dublin was awarded “very good” status.

Five UK universities are rated as excellent: Durham University, University College London, University of Leeds, University of Leicester and the University of Edinburgh; and four received very good awards: Cardiff University, University of Aberdeen, University of Bristol, and the University of Glasgow.

 jack.grove@tesglobal.com