The National Student Survey (NSS) has awarded the University of Birmingham an overall satisfaction mark of 89%, up from 88% for the past two years and a rise of five places among Russell Group institutions.
Students at the University of Birmingham are more satisfied with their teaching and learning than ever before, new figures show.
The National Student Survey (NSS) – the most comprehensive measure of student satisfaction within higher education – has awarded the University of Birmingham an overall satisfaction mark of 89%, up from 88% for the past two years and a rise of five places among Russell Group institutions.
The University of Birmingham is now seventh within the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities for student satisfaction, ahead of Nottingham and Imperial College. In particular, students praised the quality of teaching at Birmingham, giving the University an overall satisfaction rating of 90% for teaching, while a number of individual courses attained an impressive 100% score.
Commenting on today’s results, University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said: “This has been a truly remarkable year for Birmingham. Not only were we named University of the Year by The Times and The Sunday Times but our focus on continuous improvement across all areas of university life, from teaching to employability skills and student welfare, has clearly been recognised by our students.
“We believe that providing a first-class experience for our students is an essential part of being a world class university and we are investing heavily in the future. In addition to recruiting exceptional teaching staff alongside our outstanding researchers, we are spending £300m over the next five years on our campus.
“This includes building a new sports centre, complete with Birmingham’s only 50 metre swimming pool, an outstanding academic library, a University Training School, a new student village and outstanding student services hub, as well as a new state-of-the-art dental school. As our students continue to see the benefits of this continuing investment, we are confident that their positive experience will be reflected further in future student surveys and league table positions.”
These latest results build on the University’s impressive performance across all higher education league tables. Indeed, when it comes to “graduate prospects” – the number of graduates who enter professional employment or graduate-level further study within six months of graduating - the University of Birmingham is ahead of institutions such as Oxford and Warwick, and was recently ranked 8th overall in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2015.
The National Student Survey was launched in 2005 and is open to all final year degree students at institutions in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The survey is designed to assess students' opinions of the quality of their degree programmes, with seven different scores published including an "overall satisfaction" mark.
NSS is conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
