National Student Survey: UCL results

The survey, taken by nearly half a million final year undergraduate students in Higher Education Institutions across the UK, places UCL 101 out of 160 institutions in the UK, 11 places higher than in 2015. 

UCL has also risen from 22 to 19 in the list of the 24 universities that make up the Russell Group. The sector average for overall satisfaction is 86%.

This year, UCL achieved its highest ever response rate of 79%, against a sector average response rate of 71%.

Some 88% of UCL students completing the survey agreed or strongly agreed that their course was intellectually stimulating - 2% above the sector average.

Some 88% also said the library services and resources were good enough for their needs. Satisfaction with teaching rose by 1% to 86%. It also rose by 1% to 85% for learning resources, which includes libraries and IT facilities.

The lowest scoring area was assessment and feedback. However, this rose this year by 3% to 64%, but was below the sector average of 74%.

Professor Anthony Smith (UCL's Vice-Provost, Education & Student Affairs) said: "We are pleased that overall satisfaction has increased. Achieving high levels of student satisfaction in the National Student Survey is a key part of our strategy.

"However, we want all aspects of the student experience at UCL to be outstanding and these results show there is more work to do in certain areas, such as assessment and feedback. We are working hard to improve this with, among other things, standardised marking criteria and a new online feedback tool for students.

"At UCL, we believe in integrating education and research so that students are encouraged to be directly involved in research at all stages of their studies. We believe this greatly adds to our students' overall satisfaction."

Some UCL departments have performed extremely well, with 98% satisfaction rates recorded in the UCL Slade School of Fine Art, UCL Institute of Archaeology and UCL Anthropology.

UCL will be able to access student comments on 24 August.

Links:

• National Student Survey Results
• UCL 2034