University celebrates improvement across the board in National Student Survey

University of Gloucestershire is celebrating a rise in all measures in the 2023 National Student Survey (NSS).

Students scored 22 University of Gloucestershire courses above 90% for teaching and five of those featured in the UK top 10 for that measure. Our Radiography, and Religion, Philosophy and Ethics courses were ranked first nationally for academic support.

Compared to the university’s results last year, there was a 10.3% rise in students’ rating of academic support, a 13.7% increase for assessment and feedback, a 6.8% rise for ‘student voice’ and a 6.6% rise for ‘teaching on my course’.

The biggest increase for a single question related to how well the Students’ Union represents students’ academic interests, with an impressive 20.8% lift.

Across the clusters of questions in the NSS survey, the University achieved better results than last year’s higher education average in six of the seven themes, performing particularly strongly for assessment and feedback. Some 92.6% of students were positive about receiving assessment feedback on time – 13% higher than the sector average.

These results come hot on the heels of news that University of Gloucestershire is one of the top universities in the South West in the latest Graduate Outcomes Survey, with 96% of graduates employed or in further studies 15 months after completing their course. The National Student Survey is based entirely on views of students who are about to finish their studies.

Professor Sarah Jones (pictured), Pro Vice-chancellor Academic Enhancement, said: “This jump in student satisfaction is excellent news for University of Gloucestershire.

“The National Student Survey is an important measure of the student experience we offer, and I’m particularly delighted to see the hard work put in by the Students’ Union to improve its support for students reflected in these results.

“There are some incredible results for individual courses too, with several ranked in the top 10 nationally, and more than 20 scoring above 90% for teaching on the course or academic support.

“Our commitment to our students is to give them outstanding support for their learning, and to enable them to go on to successful careers and rewarding lives.

“We’re always striving for better, and these results, coming on top of some excellent recent employment data, shows we are making solid progress towards achieving those goals.”

The following University of Gloucestershire courses ranked in the top 10 in subject group nationally for teaching:

• Law: UK 2^nd – 98% positive score
• Journalism: UK 10^th – 92% positive score
• Medical Sciences (Diagnostic Radiography): UK 2^nd – 98% positive score
• Architecture, Building and Planning (Landscape Architecture): UK 3rd – 98% positive score
• Religion, Philosophy and Ethics: UK 7th – 98% positive score

The following University of Gloucestershire courses ranked in the top 10 in subject group nationally for academic support:

• Journalism: UK 3rd – 98% positive score
• Law: UK 2^nd – 98% positive score
• Education and Teaching: UK 9^th – 94% positive score
• English: UK 9^th for academic support – 96% positive score
• Religion, Philosophy and Ethics: UK 1st – 100% positive score
• Medical Sciences (Radiography): UK 1st – 100% positive score

Other impressive course scores were seen for BA Interior Design, with a 100% student rating for academic support and organisation and management.

In addition to the top 10s listed above, BSc Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation, BSc Paramedic Science and BA Early Childhood Studies also scored above 95% for teaching, and the latter scored 100% for organisation and management.

BSc Social Work, BSc Zoology, BA Photography, Editorial and Advertising, BA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, BA Television Production and BA Sports Journalism performed exceptionally well for learning opportunities (all above 90%).

Main image: Students on the University’s Interior Design programme, which gained a 100% student rating for academic support and organisation and management