Our students rate us highly

17 September 2009

NSS logo

Our 3% increase in satisfaction was the seventh highest of all universities. 

Take a look at our latest National Student Survey (NSS) results.

They show that this year, even more students are happy with what we're doing for them.

  • Our overall satisfaction score was 79%.This has risen steadily over the past three years.
  • We've improved our scores in 6 out of the 7 areas, the two highest being 'Teaching on my course' and 'Personal development'.

This means that our students are really happy with our courses and tutors, as well as the support they're getting from staff.

Many of our subjects came in the top 10

  • Initial Teacher Training (96% satisfaction and third best overall)
  • History (95%)
  • Law (95% satisfaction and sixth best overall) 
  • Education (90%)
  • Biology (96% satisfaction and seventh best overall).

Law and Education have also been in the top 5 for the last few years.

There were significantly improved scores for:

  • Social Work (52% to 76%)
  • Occupational Therapy and Radiography (61% to 82%)
  • Forensic Sciences (73% to 92% and ninth best overall)
  • Management Studies (73% to 86%).

We're improving all the time

Percentage of our students who were satisfied, 2007 to 2009

 200720082009
Teaching on my course80%82%84%
Assessment and feedback66%66%68%
Academic support67%69%74%
Organisation and management63%68%66%
Learning resources75%74%75%
Personal development75%76%79%
Overall satisfaction73%76%79%

How we compare to other universities

  • While the percentage of Derby's students satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of their course rose by 3% to 79%,nationally the average fell (by ­1% to 81%). So we're improving faster than most other universities.
  • Our 3% increase was the seventh highest of all universities.

The work doesn't stop though!

We're keen to keep improving so our Student Experience Strategy Group will be reviewing these results and working with faculties and departments to improve student satisfaction again for next year.

More about the NSS

At the end of the year, all final year students at universities across the country are invited to provide anonymous feedback about their course and institution, in particular how they rate the quality of teaching and assessment on their course.

The NSS results are really important, because they give you an idea of what real customers - the students themselves - think of their university.

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