University satisfaction ratings slump

TWO leading universities have fallen well below their benchmark for student satisfaction, according to the National Student Survey (NSS).

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Edinburgh University both scored significantly less than the sector average for satisfaction.

Some 84 per cent of final-year students at universities in the UK said they were happy with the overall quality of their courses, less than the 86 per cent of the previous three years. LSE had a 74 per cent satisfaction rate, the lowest of all the Russell Group universities and 11 per cent below its benchmark.

Meanwhile, the University of Edinburgh scored 83 per cent, three per cent less than its benchmark.

The results, published yesterday, reveal that a student-led campaign to boycott the survey was successful, as 12 institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge, failed to meet the required 50 per cent response rate.

The survey has been published annually since 2005 by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

But last year the National Union of Students called on undergraduates to shun the survey, as ministers had planned to use its data to inform their decision on whether to allow universities to raise tuition fees.

The Government has launched a new official ranking system, known as the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), where the student satisfaction survey scores are to be used alongside other measures to grade universities.

Education leaders have warned that the TEF places too much importance on the satisfaction survey, as they fear that universities will be forced to pander to the demands of “snowflake” students to keep their ratings high. Under the new system, which is unpopular with academics and students, universities are rated gold, silver or bronze, based on measures including student experience, employment after university and drop-out rate.

Professor Julia Black, interim director of LSE, said that the university had made “significant changes” in the past year, and invested £11 million in delivering its “education strategy”.

“Rigorous academic standards and independent critical analysis will continue to be an essential part of undergraduate education at LSE,” she said. “However, it is clear that work is needed in order to improve our students’ overall experience.”

A Russell Group spokesman said that the “overall picture is complicated by the impact of the boycott”.

The spokesman added: “Collectively, Russell Group universities included in the NSS figures this year have continued to outperform the sector as a whole.

“Our universities continue to invest millions of pounds in improving the teaching, facilities and services available to our students.”