UK: Student dissatisfaction grows

For the first time in the five-year history of Britain's National Student Survey, the overall satisfaction of English final-year students with their university experience has fallen.

Although the drop is small - 81% of final year students surveyed were mostly or definitely satisfied with the quality of their course - compared with 82% last year - the outcome is significant because it is now the only measure of the quality of a university education since external subject reviews were dropped in 2001.

The survey follows the critical report on higher education in England by the Commons select committee on universities. That report criticised universities for failing to safeguard degree standards and dismissed the current system for ensuring quality as "out of date".

The NSS is conducted for the funding councils by market research giant Ipsos MORI. The company uses online, postal and telephone methods to achieve a final response rate of at least 50% from the 350,000 or so students eligible each year.

Across the UK, 223,363 students at universities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and further education colleges in England took part - an increase of more than 3,000 on 2008.

Oxford University, which last year scored a 92% satisfaction rating, is a notable casualty of the 50% rule: not enough of its final year students responded from the UK university with perhaps the highest international profile to be rated. Its great rival, Cambridge, saw its overall satisfaction rating fall from 93% to 91%.

Overall, Welsh universities were unchanged at 83%, while those in Northern Ireland showed a 1% increase to 84%. Twelve Scottish institutions were also included, achieving the highest overall score of 86%, the same as in 2008.

This year's final year students at English universities are the first to pay "top-up" tuition fees of more than £3,000 a year, prompting suggestions they are more likely to want to see value for their money.

NUS president Wes Streeting said: "Tuition fees in England were trebled in 2006 but students have not seen a demonstrable improvement in the quality of their experience. Universities have a responsibility to deliver substantial improvements in return for the huge increase in income they are receiving from fees."

Adopting the bottle four-fifths full principle, English Universities Minister David Lammy said the results showed the UK's higher education system was continuing to provide a "quality experience" for students.

Chief Executive of the vice-chancellors' organisation Universities UK, Diana Warwick, said: "We're pleased that so many students continue to rate their higher education experience so highly."

And there were positive findings to report: satisfaction with teaching was high, with almost nine in 10 students in England saying their academics were good at explaining things, while four-fifths said they made the subject interesting and a slightly higher proportion said they were enthusiastic.

But Conservative spokesman on universities John Hayes said: "Students are paying much more in fees but they are not more satisfied with their courses - these results suggest student satisfaction is actually deteriorating."

This shows up in some of the survey results: 43% of English final year students said they were not given prompt feedback on their work while 30% felt their course was not well organised.

Two higher education institutions surveyed separately for the first time headed the overall satisfaction table for England. Medway School of Pharmacy - a collaboration between Greenwich and Kent universities - scored 97% and Brighton and Sussex Medical School - a partnership between the universities of Brighton and Sussex -- achieved 95%.

The Open University maintained its position in the table with a 94% rating despite an error that meant that 6,500 of its students were not included in the survey.

david.jobbins@uw-news.com

Comment:
Issues around the quality and speed of student feedback have been a burning issue for students long before the inception of the NSS. However with the trebling of fees, students are demanding change and it is an issue that can no longer be ignored.

Academics are finding increasing demands are being placed on their time, ranging from dealing with larger, more diverse student cohorts to producing higher levels of research output and quality. Therefore how can academics be expected to make any significant changes in this area?

One way will be to exploit the online tools they have in place for supporting student learning. Blackboard saves staff time for the whole assessment and feedback process whilst also making it possible for staff to provide feedback in flexible ways such as, written or voice or multi-media feedback. It will also enable their feedback to be stored online in one dedicated place so that students can go back and view, review and reflect on this whenever they wish to do so.

Dr Demetra Katsifili