National Student Survey 2018: overall satisfaction results

The full results for UK universities ranked by student satisfaction in the 2018 National Student Survey (NSS)

July 27 2018

Email: seeta.bhardwa@timeshighereducation.com

The University of St Andrews has moved up two places from last year to become the institution that UK university students are the most satisfied with, according to the 2018 National Student Survey.

The University of Buckingham, Conservatoire for Dance and Drama and The London Institute of Banking & Finance take joint second place, while Keele University, Aberystwyth University and the Royal Veterinary College are in joint fourth place.

More than 320,000 students across the UK took part in the survey this year. It is 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 performed on this measure (not including further education colleges and alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers). It shows the percentage of students who “definitely” or “mostly” agreed that they were satisfied with course quality.

What is the TEF? Results of the teaching excellence framework 2018
TEF Results 2018: alternative providers and further education ratings
The top 50 universities by reputation 2018
THE Student Experience Survey 2018 results

The London School of Economics and Politics was the lowest scoring high-profile university dropping three percentage points, from 74 per cent in 2017 to 71 per cent this year. Other prestigious universities in the bottom half of the table were Imperial College London, the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester.

Some universities such as the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge do not feature in this year’s table. This is because in order to eligible at least 50 per cent of final-year undergraduates must complete the questionnaire. Students at these universities boycotted the survey in protest against the teaching excellence framework (TEF). You can find out more about the boycott here.

However, some of the universities that took part in the boycott last year re-appeared this year including UCL and King’s College London.

National Student Survey (NSS) 2018: overall student satisfaction results

Rank	University	Overall course satisfaction (%)
1	University of St Andrews	94
=2	University of Buckingham	91
=2	Conservatoire for Dance and Drama	91
=2	The London Institute of Banking & Finance	91
=4	Keele University	90
=4	Royal Veterinary College	90
=4	Aberystwyth University	90
=7	Harper Adams University	89
=7	University of Lincoln	89
=7	Royal College of Music	89
=7	University of the West of England	89
=7	Swansea University	89
=12	Lancaster University	88
=12	University of Law	88
=12	University of Leeds	88
=12	Loughborough University	88
=12	Nottingham Trent University	88
=12	University of Portsmouth	88
=12	University of St Mark and St John	88
=12	St Mary's University, Twickenham	88
=12	University of Dundee	88
=12	University of Glasgow	88
=12	Bangor University	88
=23	Coventry University	87
=23	University of Essex	87
=23	University of Exeter	87
=23	Leeds Arts University	87
=23	Leeds Trinity University	87
=23	Liverpool Hope University	87
=23	The Open University	87
=23	Rose Bruford College	87
=23	Royal Holloway, University of London	87
=23	Royal Northern College of Music	87
=23	Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama	87
=23	Stranmillis University College	87
=23	Ulster University	87
=36	University of Bath	86
=36	University of Birmingham	86
=36	University of Chester	86
=36	De Montfort University	86
=36	University of Derby	86
=36	University of East Anglia	86
=36	University of Gloucestershire	86
=36	Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts	86
=36	Medway School of Pharmacy	86
=36	Newcastle University	86
=36	Regent's University London	86
=36	Sheffield Hallam University	86
=36	University of Worcester	86
=36	University of Aberdeen	86
=36	University of Wales Trinity Saint David	86
=51	Durham University	85
=51	Edge Hill University	85
=51	University of East London	85
=51	University of Kent	85
=51	Leeds Beckett University	85
=51	University of Liverpool	85
=51	University of Northumbria	85
=51	Oxford Brookes University	85
=51	Plymouth University	85
=51	University of Sheffield	85
=51	Staffordshire University	85
=51	University of Warwick	85
=51	University of York	85
=51	University of the Highlands and Islands	85
=51	Robert Gordon University	85
=51	University of the West of Scotland	85
=51	York St John University	85
=68	Anglia Ruskin University	84
=68	Aston University	84
=68	Birmingham City University	84
=68	University of Bolton	84
=68	University of Huddersfield	84
=68	Liverpool John Moores University	84
=68	University of Nottingham	84
=68	University of Salford	84
=68	University of Southampton	84
=68	University of Sunderland	84
=68	University of Surrey	84
=68	Teesside University	84
=68	University of Winchester	84
=68	University of Stirling	84
=68	University of Strathclyde	84
=83	University of Bedfordshire	83
=83	Birkbeck, University of London	83
=83	Bishop Grosseteste University	83
=83	University of Chichester	83
=83	University for the Creative Arts	83
=83	University of Hertfordshire	83
=83	University of Hull	83
=83	University of Manchester	83
=83	Newman University	83
=83	Norwich University of the Arts	83
=83	University of Reading	83
=83	Solent University	83
=83	University of Wolverhampton	83
=83	Queen's University of Belfast	83
=83	Cardiff Metropolitan University	83
=83	Cardiff University	83
=99	University of Bristol	82
=99	Bucks New University	82
=99	Canterbury Christ Church University	82
=99	City, University of London	82
=99	Imperial College London	82
=99	University of Leicester	82
=99	University of Northampton	82
=99	University of Roehampton	82
=99	Royal Agricultural University	82
=99	University of Sussex	82
=99	Queen Margaret University	82
=99	University of South Wales	82
=99	Arts University Bournemouth	81
=112	Bath Spa University	81
=112	Bournemouth University	81
=112	Guildhall School of Music and Drama	81
=112	Kingston University	81
=112	Manchester Metropolitan University	81
=112	Queen Mary University of London	81
=112	Glasgow Caledonian University	81
=112	Heriot-Watt University	81
=119	University College Birmingham	80
=119	University of Central Lancashire	80
=119	Falmouth University	80
=119	UCL	80
=119	Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance	80
=119	Writtle University College	80
=125	University of Greenwich	79
=125	King's College London	79
=125	London South Bank University	79
=125	Soas, University of London	79
=125	University of West London	79
=125	University of Abertay	79
=125	University of Bradford	78
=125	Goldsmiths, University of London	78
=125	Hull and Medical School	78
=125	London Metropolitan University	78
=125	Wrexham Glyndwr University	78
=136	University of Brighton	77
=136	Middlesex University	77
=136	St George's, University of London	77
=136	University of Edinburgh	77
=136	Plymouth College of Arts	77
=136	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland	77
=136	University of Cumbria	75
=136	University of Suffolk	75
=136	University of Westminster	75
145	Hertford Regional College	76
=146	BPP University College	74
=146	Edinburgh Napier University	74
=146	University College of Osteopathy	73
=149	Arden University	72
=149	University of the Arts London	72
=151	London School of Economics and Political Science	71
=151	Ravensbourne	71
=151	Royal Academy of Music	71
=154	Glasgow School of Art	67

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

Reader's comments (2)

#1 Submitted by Angela on July 30, 2018 - 2:04pm

I've observed this article experience 3 edits in the hope that it would reflect the NSS results with greater accuracy, but it's still inaccurate. It currently states that the table doesn't include Alternative Providers, but the University of Buckingham, Regents University, etc. are Alternative Providers and included in the list. However, other Alternative Providers are not included and some of them scored in the top 15 in the table as it currently stands.

#2 Submitted by Angela on July 31, 2018 - 3:31pm

"not including ... alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers." A brief look at the top few shows that the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama is an AP without degree awarding powers. Should other HEIs who received equally high NSS results but are APs without DAPs not be included too?