Aberystwyth University top for student satisfaction in Wales and second in UK

Aberystwyth University

Aberystwyth University

06 July 2022

Aberystwyth is the best university in Wales for student satisfaction according to the latest National Student Survey (NSS) which is published today, Wednesday 6 July 2022.

Based on the universities featured in the latest edition of The Times / Sunday Times Good University Guide, Aberystwyth has also climbed to second in the UK for overall student satisfaction.

The result means that Aberystwyth has come top in Wales and featured as one of the top ten universities in the UK for student satisfaction in each of the last seven editions of the NSS.

The University also continues to outperform the UK sector average for overall student satisfaction, 11 percentage points above for 2022 compared with 8 percentage points in 2021.

Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University, said: “These results are excellent and reflect the dedication of our staff to providing the best possible learning experience under difficult and challenging circumstances that have extended over the best part of two years. Their work has been matched by our students’ willingness to be flexible and adaptive to the changes they have experienced during this remarkable period, and their commitment to learning. By working together, we achieve great things, and this is reflected in today’s result which underlines once more that Aberystwyth University offers one of the best student experiences in the UK.”

One of the highlights for Aberystwyth is ‘The teaching on my course’, which probes a student’s learning experience, intellectual stimulation and how a course challenges them to achieve their best work.

Aberystwyth is rated top out of universities in both Wales and England, and second in the UK in this category.

Aisleen Sturrock, President of Aberystwyth Students’ Union said: “Massive congratulations to Aberystwyth University on the result of this year’s National Students Survey. The past three years have been very challenging for students and staff and the way everyone has worked together to make sure that the student experience is at the heart of our decisions is reflected in today’s result. The Students’ Union will continue to work hard to make sure that student satisfaction remains high at Aberystwyth and to ensure that Aber students love student life.”

The National Student Survey (NSS) is an annual survey of nearly half a million students in universities, colleges and other providers across the UK.

The survey asks final-year undergraduate students to score their university across a wide range of measures of student satisfaction.

They include quality of teaching, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources, learning community and the student voice.

The NSS is commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS), on behalf of the UK funding and regulatory bodies – the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Department for Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI), and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and undertaken independently by Ipsos MORI.

The 2022 survey opened on 6 January and closed on 30 April 2022.