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NSS Success for PAIS: Scores Rise in Every Category, with PAIS Ranked No 1 or No 2 in the Russell Group for More Than a Decade
The Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) is delighted to announce an outstanding set of results in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2026.
PAIS has been ranked among the top two Russell Group Politics departments for the eleventh year in a row, including seven years at No. 1. In this year's survey, PAIS was ranked 2nd in the Russell Group, while significantly increasing our scores across every category. * **
Highlights from this year’s results include (PO coded degrees)
· 95.1 per cent responded positively to questions relating to ‘teaching on my course’
· 94.2 per cent responded positively to questions relating to ‘academic support’
· 96.9 per cent responded positively on ‘learning resources’
· 95.9 per cent responded positively to questions relating to ‘student voice’
In addition, PAIS is:
· 1st in the Russell Group for student voice (a position we have held in 8 of the past 9 years)
· 1st in the Russell Group for Organisation and Management
· 2nd in the Russell Group for clarity of marking criteria
· 2nd in the Russell Group for developing the knowledge and skills students need for their future.
The latter two areas have been particular priorities for the department over the past year, making these results especially encouraging.
Our scores have increased in all 27 core questions of the survey.
These results are due to an outstanding team effort among our fantastic students, academics, and professional services colleagues, and demonstrate a partnership which we are extremely proud of.
We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our amazing students and dedicated staff to sustain and build on these excellent results. At the start of the new academic year, we will feed back in greater detail to all students, and we will discuss and take forward ideas for further enhancement of the PAIS student experience via our Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs).
A huge thank you to everyone involved in more than a decade of success. We look forward to another year of innovation, partnership, and continued enhancements to the student experience.
*See the Office For Students Website for more details and the full data. The results are based on the official Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) subject breakdowns and the 23 Russell Group institutions which met the publications threshold for Politics.
*This is based on the ‘overall student satisfaction’ question which was part of the core NSS questionnaire in England between 2016 and 2022 and an average positivity score taking into account questions across the survey once the core overall satisfaction question was removed in 2023.