The 2023 National Student Survey breaks with a time series stretching back to 2017 (arguably further) to paint the traditionally mixed picture of student satisfaction with aspects of their course and wider experience.
Though there’s significant variation by subject, level, mode, and provider there are some positive overall findings – given a 71.5 per cent response rate – just under 91 per cent of UK undergraduates who responded to the survey were positive about the ability of their tutors to explain. And 81 per cent agreed that marking had been fair and that assessment enabled students to demonstrate what they had learned.
The sector overall is weaker when it comes to acting on student feedback – around 4 in 10 (39 per cent) of students could not agree that student feedback had been acted on, while less than three quarters (74%) agree their course had been well organised.
Usually here we’d be able to compare with previous years to add context and consider whether externalities (the cost of living crisis, for instance, or industrial action) had a discernible impact. The changes to the format of questions make this impossible to do so with any level of confidence.
