Students studying at Scottish universities are more satisfied in the UK with the quality of their course, according to the National Student Survey (NSS) 2020.
This year’s results show that overall satisfaction with courses in Scotland has improved by one per cent since 2019 and now stands at 85 per cent for full-time students. 86 per cent of part-time students in Scotland are satisfied with their course. The figure is above the UK average of 83 per cent, which is the down from 84 per cent last year.
The NSS is carried out by the Office for Students (OfS) on behalf of the UK funding bodies and is the largest student feedback survey in the world. As well as capturing student views on the overall quality of their undergraduate degree, the survey gathers students’ responses to a series of questions relating to academic support, learning resources, teaching, management and assessment.
Compared with last year, Scotland’s performance on each of the metrics either improved or remained in 25 of the 27 categories for full-time students and 24 of 27 for part-time students.
Every university in the UK participates in the survey, including some colleges and alternative providers. This year, the response rate was 68.6 per cent and a total of 311,432 students across the UK took part.
Commenting on the results, Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland said:
“We are delighted to see that students rate their time at university so highly.
“In these exceptionally challenging times, universities have stepped up to their role in ensuring students can fulfil their potential. Students and staff at Scotland’s universities should be congratulated for their commitment to maintaining high standards in difficult circumstances.
“Our universities are committed to enhancing the student experience from all angles and we are particularly delighted to see that part-time students, as well as full-time learners, have very high satisfaction levels about the quality of their courses.”