National Student Survey results 2022
The National Student Survey (NSS) seeks the views of final-year undergraduate students across the UK every year. The survey enables higher education providers to continuously evaluate, improve and benchmark the courses they offer, and it helps to inform decisions made by prospective students about where to study.
Warwick is no exception and this year, over 2,800 (62%) of our finalists who were eligible to participate took part in the survey.
At Warwick, our results are positive overall, with our Overall Satisfaction score at 81.4%, placing us third in the Russell Group and we are the top Russell Group university in the Midlands. This reflects positively on our continued work with our student body and efforts to gather insight more regularly through termly surveys, active Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs) and the Teaching Excellence Group (TEG).
Overall results
The results of this year’s survey were published by the Office for Students today (6 July) through a public release on their website and through a more granular dataset sent to each provider. Following another challenging year for staff and students as we continue to transition out of the pandemic, it was expected that the NSS results for 2022 would be impacted across the sector. However, Warwick’s outcomes have shown we have broadly maintained the University’s position within the Russell Group.
At Warwick
At Warwick, our results are positive overall. Our Overall Satisfaction score is 81.4%, this places us third in the Russell Group and the top Russell Group university in the Midlands. We have also ranked top 5 overall within the Russell Group for all core aspects of the academic student experience.
Within the Russell Group, we are first for Student Voice which reflects positively on the work of academic and professional staff to continue to listen to and act upon our students’ feedback. Thank you for your continued efforts in this area and partnership with students. We have maintained our position of first for Assessment and Feedback, during another challenging and mixed year as we transitioned back to increased face to face experiences and away from the immediate crisis delivery of the pandemic. This demonstrates the dedication of our academic staff in putting the needs of students at the heart of all we do. It is also testament to the tenacity of our final year students.
We are also in the top two in the Russell Group for Academic Support, top three for Learning Opportunities and top four for Teaching, and for Organisation and Management. Student feedback in these areas has been positive overall, which is great to hear as we’ve returned to delivering more face to face teaching, support, assessments and learning opportunities this year, whilst maintaining the best aspects of virtual learning. The positive feedback is a reflection on your hard work to consolidate and progress key learnings from throughout the pandemic.
Our Overall Satisfaction with Learning Resources has increased by 5.2% compared to 2021. This demonstrates that our students are recognising and appreciating our efforts to improve the Library and other learning resources. We are pleased to see an increase in this area and look forward to seeing what more we can do to make the learning resources we have work well for students.
Though our position within the sector for Overall Satisfaction has fallen, we are still 27th in the entire sector (compared to 13th in 2021), and we have actually remained higher than our pre-pandemic rank.
We are delighted to see that overall, our students continue to have a positive learning experience and value their time with us. We recognise that the experience for this cohort of students completing this survey was atypical and will explore in more detail areas in which we can address gaps and continue to improve.
Departmental results
We are working through the results for each academic department and course and have shared an initial summary of these with each department’s senior team. We can see variability, with a number of departments building on strong foundations and enjoying an upwards trend, while others will need to work carefully with their students to understand what lies behind results. Overall, the rich feedback provided to us by our students gives us a lot to think about as we continue to work on preparations for the next academic year. It will also help to focus our attention as we continue to implement the University's Education StrategyLink opens in a new window over the coming year.
In conclusion
The arrival of NSS results coincides with degree congregations for this cohort of finalists over the coming weeks. This is a good opportunity to reflect on the sheer amount of work that has gone into teaching and supporting our students over the last year. The Education Executive team passes on its thanks to all colleagues who have played their part in demanding circumstances this year.
The NSS results show that we have much to be proud of and that our consistent work to deliver an excellent academic experience has paid off. Our students continue to highly value the energy and care that staff invest into delivering a first-rate learning and teaching. As we look ahead to the next academic year, we look forward to maintaining momentum and seeing how we can make our students’ academic experience even better.
