Imperial students have their say in National Student Survey

The release of the 2012 National Student Survey results reveals an overall satisfaction rating of 86 percent for Imperial

The release of the 2012 National Student Survey (NSS) results today reveals an overall satisfaction rating of 86 percent for Imperial, one percent higher than the sector average and Imperial’s results in 2011.

Across all the £ categories in the survey, the College achieved a higher or equal percentage satisfaction compared to previous years, with the largest climb being in Assessment and Feedback, which saw an improvement of 8 percent since last year. Following a campaign led by Imperial College Union to engage students with the Survey the participation rate at the College also increased from 64 percent to 71, the highest in England and Wales.

NSS data is based on the opinions of participating final year undergraduates across most UK universities and colleges, on a number of issues from universities’ learning resources to how intellectually stimulating students find their courses. With other universities also seeing improved results, Imperial fell from 53^rd to 67^th in the rankings for overall satisfaction.

The NSS data also informs the new Key Information Sets (KIS) which are available from the Unistats website. This information is provided for every undergraduate course across almost all English and Welsh higher education institutions to help prospective students make an informed choice about their course.

Welcoming the NSS results Imperial’s President & Rector Sir Keith O’Nions said: “Today’s results indicate the progress that continues to be made in enhancing what we offer to students at Imperial. Of particular note is the climb in satisfaction rates in the assessment and feedback category, reflecting the focus that many departments have put on clarifying how assessments are made and in offering quality and timely feedback on students’ work. Imperial College Union have also made sterling efforts to boost engagement in the NSS, demonstrated by the increase in the response rate.”

He added: “We cannot however be complacent. Many of our competitors have leapt up in their NSS ratings and we know that there’s more we need to do to make our performance consistently high across the College.”

Imperial College Union President Paul Beaumont said: “The Union is very pleased to see how seriously the College is taking measures to improve the student experience, at all levels. We are working on an update to last year's Union NSS response that will set new targets, building on those proposals; many of which have been implemented or are planned already.”

Among a number of departments which saw significant improvements this year was the Department of Aeronautics, with across the board improvements and an increase in overall satisfaction of 18%. The Department of Physics, meanwhile, saw increases across most NSS categories, including a 12% improvement in assessment and feedback.

Staff from the departments share details below of some of the initiatives they are working on to improve the student experience: