We are pleased to announce that Warwick Law School has achieved high levels of satisfaction in the latest National Student Survey (NSS) 2023.

The annual survey asks final year undergraduate students questions about a range of factors related to their academic experience, including the teaching on their course, assessment and feedback, student voice, and how well courses are organised. This year the survey closed on Sunday 30 April 2023 and the response rate from final year undergraduate Law students was 67%.

Despite the challenges faced by this student cohort due to disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and industrial action, we are delighted to see our students have had a great learning experience and value their time with us. In particular, we are delighted to see such high satisfaction scores in the areas of ‘Teaching on my course’, ‘Learning resources’ and ‘Academic support’.

• 90% of respondents said they found their course intellectually stimulating.
• 89% of respondents said teachers were good at explaining things.
• 87% of respondents said it was easy to contact teaching staff when they needed to.
• 91% of respondents said that library resources (e.g. books, online services, and learning spaces) had supported their learning.
• 90% of respondents said it was easy to access subject specific resources (e.g. equipment, facilities and software) when they needed them.
• 87% of respondents said IT resources and facilities had supported their learning.

Our performance in relation to other Russell Group institutions remains very strong, with the NSS also highlighting positive areas for WLS. Among respondents, 73% agreed they had the right balance of directed and independent study and 83% agreed they had the right opportunities for students to give feedback on their course. This places us third within the Russell Group in these areas.

There are also areas where we need to improve. Over the next year, we will concentrate our efforts on making sure marking criteria is clear and feedback to students on their assessments guides students toward achieving their full potential. There is also more we can do to improve our engagement with students. We hope to work with incoming and existing students to find the most effective ways of communicating with them.

There were significant changes to the NSS 2023 which means that we are unable to compare this year’s survey directly to last year’s survey. Nonetheless, it provides us with a forensic understanding of our students’ experience of WLS and provides a foundation for future development.

This is a great opportunity to reflect on our teaching and support for students and to continue building a WLS community we can be proud of.

Professor Christian Twigg-Flesner, Deputy Head of School and Director of Teaching and Learning said: “The NSS results are a really good indicator of where we are getting things right for our students, whilst reminding us that we can do more to enhance the student learning experience. We are already due to embark on a strategic review of assessment and feedback as part of the ongoing roll-out of our exciting new curriculum and appreciate the very helpful comments on our current practice, both supportive and critical”.

For the full NSS results click here.