THE National Student Survey (NSS) is one of the largest surveys of student satisfaction in the world. All final-year undergraduate students from UK universities are invited to take part in the survey which asks 27 questions about a range of factors related to their academic experience, including the teaching on their course, assessment and feedback, and how well courses are organised.
The University of Huddersfield is delighted with this year's results, which recognise its teaching excellence and student experience. Areas of strength for the University include assessment and feedback, learning resources and the student voice.
Assessment and feedback
The University of Huddersfield continues to excel in its assessment and feedback to students and is ranked best in Yorkshire for two of the survey questions about how often students receive feedback on time and how often this feedback helps them to improve their work, when compared to institutions with a £100million turnover or more. The University is in the top quartile for eight questions, including all those in the Assessment and Feedback section. This excellent result supports the University's commitment to world-class teaching, which was recognised with the first Global Teaching Excellence Award in 2017. The University is also first in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK's best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 22 since 2008 (2023 data). At 96%, the University also has the highest proportion of lecturers with higher qualifications (at Masters-level or above) in the UK.
The University of Huddersfield's Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Professor Jane Owen-Lynch, was delighted with the strong showing in the National Student Survey for assessment and feedback: "We recognise how detailed and constructive feedback helps our students to continually improve and develop. Having the opportunity to discuss their work in detail with tutors is invaluable."
Student voice and learning resources
Since 2008, £156 million has been spent on campus development making sure students at Huddersfield have access to some of the best facilities in the country. With a vibrant social scene and a very active Students' Union with more than 110 clubs and societies, it was very rewarding to see that the aggregate result for the questions in the Student Voice category was over 72% of students recording highly positive views. The following scores combined to produce this category: 78% of students said they were given the right opportunities to give feedback on their course, 74% said their opinion on their course is valued by staff, 65% said it's clear that students' feedback on their course is acted on.
Course satisfaction
Standout performances by individual subjects at Huddersfield include Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Economics, Education, English Language, Forensic and Archaeological Sciences, Health Studies, History, Human Resource Management, Information Technology, Journalism, Linguistics, Literature in English, Mathematics, Chemical, Process and Energy Engineering, Media Studies, Others in Psychology, Planning (urban, rural, regional) and Politics, with positivity scores for these subjects reaching 100% for some of the survey questions.
The NSS 2023 data can be found on the OfS website.
