Published on 16 July 2020
Results from this year’s National Student Survey (NSS) show that in 21 of the University’s courses, 90% of the students or higher have said they were satisfied overall. In ten undergraduate degrees this rises to 100% (up from four last year), these include; BA (Hons) - Community and Youth Work Studies; Events Management; Glass and Ceramics; Media, Culture and Communication; Physical Education and Sports Coaching and; BSc (Hons) - BioPharmaceutical Science; International Tourism and Hospitality Management (with Placement); Sociology; Tourism Management and FdA Health and Social Care.
The Overall Satisfaction category for the University of Sunderland has shown a rise from 82.13% in 2019 to 82.34% this year, placing the institution above its benchmark – the score that a university like Sunderland would be expected to receive – of 82.17%. NSS respondents also showed their satisfaction with the University’s student-centred approach, resulting in improved satisfaction scores for its learning community and student voice.
The NSS is the biggest survey of final-year students’ views in the UK. The main questionnaire provides widely published data that informs university league tables. 75% of eligible students at Sunderland took part in the survey, above the figure of 68.8% for all institutions that took part.
Sir David Bell KCB, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, said: “For the University of Sunderland, the National Student Survey is one important indicator of satisfaction as it gives us direct insight into the views and experience of students. Their feedback helps us to identify what we do well, and highlights areas where our students think we could make improvements.”
The NSS was open to students from 6 January 2020 to 30 April 2020 – overlapping with the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the UK entering ‘lockdown’. Additional analysis shows that while there were some variations across the data compared to previous surveys, there was no evidence that the results have been significantly impacted by the pandemic.
This year, the survey captured the views of over 311,432 mainly final-year undergraduates, studying for higher education qualifications at UK higher education providers and at further education colleges in England, Northern Ireland and Wales students. This represents 68.6 per cent of eligible students, from 396 universities, colleges and private providers.
The survey is funded by the four UK higher education regulatory/funding bodies (the Office for Students, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Economy Northern Ireland), and Health Education England.
Which courses were students most satisfied with overall?
Students’ overall satisfaction is high in a number of our courses. Students on ten courses said they were 100% satisfied overall and many others received over 90%, these include:
BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management 90.91%
BA (Hons) Community and Youth Work Studies 100%
BA (Hons) Events Management 100%
BA (Hons) Film and Media 90%
BA (Hons) Fine Art 93.33%
BA (Hons) Glass and Ceramics 100%
BA (Hons) Media, Culture and Communication 100%
BA (Hons) Physical Education and Sports Coaching 100%
BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering 94.74%
BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science 96.3%
BSc (Hons) BioPharmaceutical Science 100%
BSc (Hons) Cosmetic Science 90.91%
BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care 90.48%
BSc (Hons) International Tourism and Hospitality Management 96.67%
BSc (Hons) International Tourism and Hospitality Management (with Placement) 100%
BSc (Hons) Psychology 91.11%
BSc (Hons) Sociology 100%
BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Sciences 92.31%
BSc (Hons) Tourism Management 100%
FdA Health and Social Care 100% LLB Law 93.33%