St Andrews top in UK for teaching and academic quality

The University of St Andrews is one of the top three universities in the United Kingdom for teaching and the quality of the academic experience it offers students, according to the results of the National Student Survey published today (Tuesday 12 August 2014).

St Andrews is the leading multi-faculty university in Scotland and joint top in the United Kingdom in the 2014 NSS.

It is the ninth year in succession that St Andrews has performed strongly in the annual measure of how satisfied students are with the quality of their higher education experience.

St Andrews is up one place on last year’s survey and shares first place with the University of Bath and the University of Keele.

With 93% of students studying at St Andrews declaring themselves satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of their university education, the Fife institution is ahead of Cambridge and Oxford (joint 6th). The University of Glasgow (also joint 6th) is the only other Scottish university in the UK top ten.
Five St Andrews subjects – Computer Science, Geography, Biology, Anthropology and Divinity – achieved satisfaction levels of 100%.

The survey compilers canvassed the opinions of around 265,000 final-year students at Higher Education Institutions across the UK. Students were asked to respond to over twenty questions on topics such as teaching, personal development, assessment and feedback, learning resources and the management of their University.

St Andrews students gave the University high marks for course teaching, the organisation and management of their university, academic support and learning resources.

St Andrews Vice-Principal and Proctor, Professor Lorna Milne, said: “If St Andrews students are among the most satisfied in the country, it’s really down to two things: our superb staff, who work very hard to provide the best education they possibly can; and the students themselves, who clearly appreciate being challenged to achieve excellent results. I’m delighted that they have rated their University so highly once again.”

Pat Mathewson, President of the St Andrews Students’ Association, said: “These results stand as an ongoing testament to the sense of community we share here in St Andrews, and the extraordinary dedication of countless individuals towards enhancing the student experience. It is these tireless efforts that make us much more than an ancient seat of learning, but a home for our students.”

The NSS 2014 also rated individual subjects at universities for student satisfaction. St Andrews was number one in the UK for Biology, Computer Science, Anthropology, Human and Social Geography, African and Middle Eastern studies and Divinity.
Medicine, Physics, Maths, International Relations, Management, French and History at St Andrews were all placed in the top 10.

ENDS

Issued by the University of St Andrews Press Office

Contact [email protected], tel 01334 462530.