Reading students have their say in the National Student Survey
27 July 2018
83% of final year students are satisfied with the University of Reading, according to the 2018 National Student Survey (NSS) published today (Friday 27th July).
Each year, the NSS provides us with the most comprehensive, independent and full picture of what our final year students think about their time at Reading – what works here and what needs to improve. The 2018 NSS was completed by 2,145 final-year students, representing the views of 66% of eligible finalists.
Overall satisfaction across the University remains consistent with the sector average, which is also 83% according to these latest results and remains steady with last year’s result of 84%.
Finalists commended teaching staff for being good at explaining things (88%) and a further 85% said that the course was intellectually stimulating.
High levels of student satisfaction were also reported at discipline level, with seven areas achieving a score of 90% or above: Meteorology (100%); French (95%); Geography & Environmental Science (90%); Built Environment (91%); Archaeology (90%); English Language & Applied Linguistics 90%); and Film, Theatre & Television (90%).
Sir David Bell KCB, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Reading, said:
“I am extremely grateful to all those who took the time to complete the NSS, and our other important student surveys. While we are pleased that our overall student satisfaction remains strong in what has been a challenging year for higher education, the results highlight several areas for improvement. Students are right to have high expectations of their university and survey feedback is very valuable to help us identify where we need to take action.
“Feedback from the NSS in previous years has influenced many current projects that will enhance the experience of current and future students. For example, our ambitious capital investment programme 2026: TRANSFORM will improve vital facilities such as study space and teaching and learning resources. This year’s results reflect that the works necessary to deliver such projects do cause inconvenience for current students in the interim, so we are committed to mitigating the disruption as far as we can.
“We are also planning big improvements to assessment and feedback. Our Electronic Management of Assessment Programme will enable more timely submission and more consistent, clear online feedback. Following a successful pilot in a number of Schools this year, we are introducing these new processes more widely for the 2018/19 academic year.
“We will be analysing the NSS feedback carefully to see what other things we can do to make Reading even better.”
For the first time this year, the University introduced surveys for non-finalist undergraduate students about their experiences, which ran alongside NSS. The aim is that knowing how students feel earlier in their course will allow the University to make improvements that those students will see during their studies.
The NSS is an important measure of student satisfaction. It is carried out annually by Ipsos MORI and every university in the UK takes part.
The full results are publically available on the Office for Students website.