Students have given Imperial its best ever rating in the National Student Survey (NSS), according to the 2013 results released today.

The feedback from 1,634 students – four-fifths of the graduating cohort – gives Imperial its highest student satisfaction score and response rate in the survey’s history.

A greater proportion of Imperial students took part in the survey than any other university in England and Wales.

87% of final-year Imperial students responding to the survey “definitely” or “mostly” agree that their overall experience at the College was satisfactory. This is a 1% improvement on the College’s performance last year and 2% higher than the sector average (85%).

The College’s performance across all NSS question categories was better than in 2012.

The survey revealed particular progress in the Assessment and Feedback category, with a 66% satisfaction rate, an increase of 4% on last year and a 12% improvement over the past two years. Academic Support satisfaction rates reached 79%, also a 4% increase on last year.

The College achieved its highest ever rating for satisfaction with Learning Resources at 95%, the joint-second highest rating in the sector.

Student-centred reforms

Over the past two years every Imperial department has focused on improving their student experience through departmental action plans. In addition to this, recent student-centred reforms include:

• Academic departments have fully embraced the Union’s ‘You Said, We Did’ Campaign to promote changes in teaching as a direct result of student online feedback.
• Each department now has student-led teaching awards to encourage excellence throughout the College. 
• The Union President and Deputy President (Education) sit on the Advisory Group to the Vice Provost (Education), directly helping to shape the College’s education & student experience.
• Imperial Horizons is expanding students’ personal and career development through exposure to a broader range of academic and professional training.

Union campaign

Imperial College Union spearheaded a successful campaign to increase participation, leading to 81% of eligible students taking part in the survey, a 10% increase on last year, the College’s best ever participation-rate, and the whole sector's highest in 2013.

The services offered by the Union itself achieved a satisfaction rating of 77%, up 6% on last year.

Professor Debra Humphris, Imperial’s Vice Provost (Education), said: “Imperial College Union and the student community deserve our congratulations for the very high participation rate in this year’s survey. Over the past two years the Union has produced a really helpful report on the NSS which informs improvements across College.

“We value feedback from our students and this year’s steady progress is testament to the commitment and hard work of all my colleagues.

“Imperial is a world top ten university. We will keep striving to ensure the student experience reflects that status.”

Imperial College Union President David Goldsmith said: “We are pleased to see the College making serious – and successful – efforts to improve the Imperial student experience. The Union is working closely with College leaders to build on this year’s progress, and to make sure an Imperial education is the best it can be.

"The Union prides itself on playing an important role in improving the student experience at College and giving every student a voice in decisions that affect them. We are delighted that the NSS showed a significant improvement in satisfaction with the services and support we offer and we are constantly working to improve our Students' Union.

“We will publish our third annual response to the NSS in November that will set new targets and proposals for enhancing the student experience. My Union colleagues and I are looking forward to working with Imperial to meet our shared ambition of making Imperial a world-beating learning environment.” 

NSS data is based on the opinions of participating final year undergraduates across most UK universities and colleges, on a range of issues from personal development support to how intellectually stimulating students find their courses. For further information on the survey, see the official NSS website and the College's own NSS pages.