Make your voice heard

thestudentsurvey.com

What is the NSS?

The National Student Survey (NSS) offers final year undergraduates the chance to give feedback on their time at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.

By taking part in the survey, you’ll be helping future students make the right choices about where and what to study.

No one knows the University better than you, so your opinions about being a student at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ are really important.

The feedback you give will also help to shape the University and the student experience for students who are already here. The 2024 NSS will run until 30 April, 2024.

It takes around five minutes to complete and we recommend you do the survey early as Ipsos MORI – an independent market research company who manage the survey – will continue to remind you until you’ve completed it.

You are eligible for the NSS if you are a final year undergraduate or are on a flexible part-time programme. If your final year cannot be easily predicted, you will be surveyed after you are expected to have undertaken one full-time equivalent, and not before your fourth year of study. You are only invited to be surveyed once.

There are also some FAQs on the NSS website, and we’ve given you an advance look at the NSS questions so you can see what you’ll be asked.

The NSS questions

You’ll be asked to rate the following using a four-point scale. When answering, consider your whole experience at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, from your time as a fresher right up until now.

  1. How good are teaching staff at explaining things?
  2. How often do teaching staff make the subject engaging?
  3. How often is the course intellectually stimulating?
  4. How often does your course challenge you to achieve your best work?
  1. To what extent have you had the chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth?
  2. How well does your course introduce subjects and skills in a way that builds on what you have already learned?
  3. To what extent have you had the chance to bring together information and ideas from different topics?
  4. To what extent does your course have the right balance of directed and independent study?
  5. How well has your course developed your knowledge and skills that you think you will need for your future?
  1. How clear were the marking criteria used to assess your work?
  2. How fair has the marking and assessment been on your course?
  3. How well have assessments allowed you to demonstrate what you have learned?
  4. How often have you received assessment feedback on time?
  5. How often does feedback help you to improve your work?
  1. How easy was it to contact teaching staff when you needed to?
  2. How well have teaching staff supported your learning?
  1. How well organised is your course?
  2. How well were any changes to teaching on your course communicated?
  1. How well have the IT resources and facilities supported your learning?
  2. How well have the library resources (e.g., books, online services and learning spaces) supported your learning?
  3. How easy is it to access subject specific resources (e.g., equipment, facilities, software) when you need them?
  1. To what extent do you get the right opportunities to give feedback on your course?
  2. To what extent are students' opinions about the course valued by staff?
  3. How clear is it that students' feedback on the course is acted on?
  4. How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests?
  1. How well communicated was information about your university/college's mental wellbeing support services?
  2. During your studies, how free did you feel to express your ideas, opinions, and beliefs?

Supporting our students

To support our students, we have:

Replaced more than 1,300 PCs in teaching labs as well as installing new monitors and open-access Macs across our campus

Doubled the size of the University’s Powerbase gym, investing in the highest level of training equipment and technology for you

Continued our free breakfast offering, stopped processing late return Library book fines and ran 'Maximise your money' sessions to help you during the Cost of Living crisis

Spread out the deadlines for assessments to prevent assessment bunching occurring across different modules and programmes

Rolled out the delivery of academic writing support, dissertation support and drop-in sessions across all of the Schools

Increased the opening hours for our University Library during vacation time and term-time

Improved access to assistive technologies to support our student community when accessing Library resources and provided detailed accessibility information about our buildings and facilities across our campus

Launched an international student programme dedicated to supporting our international student community transition to life in the UK

Launched our Student Success Academy to provide tailored and targeted support for all students to supercharge all areas of your success

Opened two new Career Hubs on campus so students can receive drop-in support linked to their future career and employability skillset

Go to thestudentsurvey.com to take part

Your data

Your contact details will be transferred to Ipsos for the purpose of the NSS only. Personal data is held in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. All your responses will remain strictly anonymous and at no point will you be identified. Any personally identifiable data will be securely deleted by Ipsos after the survey closes and will not be shared with any third parties. More information is available on the NSS website.