The annual National Student Survey (NSS) results were released today, with our overall satisfaction score remaining the same as last year at 71%. In total, 62% of final year undergraduate students at our University completed the survey, compared with 63% last year.
The results follow several years of significant fluctuations, and a substantial fall in satisfaction in 2021. It is clearly disappointing not to have seen an overall uplift.
We can however draw some positives from improving scores in certain themes such as learning resources, learning community, and learning opportunities – all areas we have sought to prioritise over the past year.
Overall, we’ve moved up 8 places within the sector; but we remain very aware that we are still below sector levels of student satisfaction. While this outcome may be understandable given the impact of pandemic restrictions and regular industrial action, we cannot see it just through that lens.
We will continue to press ahead with improvements in priority areas such as student voice, assessment & feedback, and timetabling – all of which have plans to address those challenges.
We are also very appreciative of the huge efforts of our staff throughout the year, and it is heartening to see those efforts recognised in some of the survey comments. The contributions of many of our teaching and professional support staff, focus on the return to campus, and renewed access to learning resources are already emerging as positive themes.
As is always the case, we are currently looking at all the NSS data in detail to understand our performance in significantly more depth and to prioritise actions accordingly.
We know that every final year student who filled in the survey wanted to tell us something, positive or negative, and we are committed to learning from their comments to improve teaching and student experiences at Manchester.
Kind regards,
Professor April McMahon
Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students