Cambridge top university in this year’s National Student Survey

94 per cent of participating students at Cambridge declared themselves satisfied with the quality of their course, the highest satisfaction rate for full-time university students in the UK and a rise of three per cent on last year’s score. 

The average satisfaction rating for the UK higher education sector as whole was 83 per cent.

Since it was launched in 2005, the National Student Survey has become one of the key indicators of student satisfaction within the sector.

Undergraduates in the final year of their courses are asked to answer 22 questions about their student experience, including teaching, assessment, academic support, learning resources and personal development.

The NSS is one of the ways in which the University monitors the quality of its provision.

Each autumn, its Education Committee receives a report on the results broken down by course.

Relevant data and anonymised student comments are also sent to Faculty Boards for consideration by staff and students at teaching committees alongside other feedback collected locally from students.

Faculty Boards are asked to report back on how they plan to address the feedback and to outline their planned actions.

Nationally, NSS results are used to compile a number of league tables.

Student satisfaction at Cambridge has improved since 2010 in six of the seven categories covered by the survey.

36 out of the University´s 43 subjects received an overall satisfaction score of 90% or above, while 12 Triposes received top overall satisfaction scores of 100%.

Alice Benton, Head of Educational and Student Policy, said: “Cambridge is widely recognised as one of the best universities in the world thanks to the excellence of our teaching and research, and the quality of our graduates.

"Our collegiate structure means that students are members of a community of scholars and can expect to interact both formally and informally with academics who will include world leaders in their field.

"The collegiate university also offers exceptional learning resources, including 114 libraries, nine specialist museums and collections, and over 600 clubs and societies.”