St Andrews top for student satisfaction

Tuesday 17 August 2010

St Andrews students are the most satisfied in the UK, according to a national survey published today (Wednesday 18 August 2010).

The National Student Survey 2010 has named Scotland’s first university as one of the country’s leading multi-faculty universities.

93% of St Andrews final year students surveyed in Spring 2010 gave the University top marks for the quality of the learning and teaching experience, a small improvement on last year’s satisfaction rating of 92%.

It is the fifth year in succession that St Andrews has led the independent national survey which measures how satisfied students are with the quality of their higher education experience. St Andrews shares top spot this year with the University of Oxford.

Scottish universities have again performed well in the survey – nine are ranked among the UK’s top 50 and four among the top 10 (St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Stirling).

St Andrews Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Dr Louise Richardson, said, “I believe this is a significant and enduring vote of confidence in the quality of Scottish higher education and the excellence of our teaching staff.

“Scottish universities have again performed strongly in this important barometer of the quality of our learning and teaching, despite the additional competitive advantage afforded English institutions by top-up fees.

“It is the fifth year in succession that St Andrews has featured at the top of the NSS and demonstrates our deep rooted commitment to academic excellence and the student experience.”

The NSS is an annual evaluation of how satisfied students are with the quality of their higher education experience.  This year it canvassed the opinions of over 170,000 final-year students at over 140 institutions. Students were asked to rate their satisfaction on elements such as teaching, assessment, academic support and personal development.

The NSS also ranks individual departments and academic schools within universities.

St Andrews School of Medicine, which has recently moved to a new £45 million purpose built medical sciences building on North Haugh, was named top UK medical school for student satisfaction. 97% of St Andrews medical students gave the School top marks.

Geology and Divinity at St Andrews were also named top in the UK while Anthropology, Arabic, Computer Science, Physics & Astronomy, Maths, Classics, Chemistry, International Relations and French all feature in the UK top ten.

The NSS results follow high rankings for St Andrews in the major independent University league tables published this summer – The Times Good University Guide and the Guardian University Guide both named St Andrews top in Scotland and within the UK top five.


Category Student experience

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