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National Student Survey 2020: overall satisfaction results

The full results for UK universities ranked by student satisfaction in the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS)

    Seeta Bhardwa's avatar

    Seeta Bhardwa

    Editor, THE Student
    July 15 2020

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    For the 2021 National Student Survey results click here

    Brighton and Sussex Medical School is one of the top universities for student satisfaction, according to the 2020 National Student Survey. 

    The small medical institution has overtaken the University of St Andrews as the university that students are most satisfied with. The Scottish institution dropped to second place this year, with its overall satisfaction score falling three percentage points, to 92.73 per cent. 

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    Notable absences from the table include the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 

    About 310,000 students from 396 universities, colleges and other providers completed the 2020 National Student Survey. This was down from the 330,000 students who did the survey last year.

    The survey was made up of 27 questions covering teaching on the course, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources, learning community, student voice and student union.

    Students were also asked to give their university an overall satisfaction score. The table below shows how all the eligible UK higher education institutions (not including further education colleges and alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers) performed on this measure. It shows the percentage of students who “definitely” or “mostly” agreed that they were satisfied with course quality.

    The Office for Students (which runs the survey) analysed this year's data to determine whether the Covid-19 pandemic had had any impact on the results, and concluded “that the results could be published in full, without any exceptional adjustment to account for the impact of the pandemic”.

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    National Student Survey (NSS) 2020: overall student satisfaction results

    NSS Rank  University Overall Satisfaction Score (%)
    1 Brighton and Sussex Medical School 96.43
    2 University of St Andrews 92.73
    3 Conservatoire for Dance and Drama 92.31
    4 Writtle University College 91.77
    5 University of Law 90.73
    6 Stranmillis University College 90.72
    7 Harper Adams University 90.41
    8 Robert Gordon University 89.96
    9 Aberystwyth University 89.87
    10 Guildhall School of Music and Drama 89.78
    11 Abertay University 89.15
    12 Swansea University 88.87
    13 Royal Academy of Music 88.71
    14 Loughborough University 88.65
    15 University of Bath 88.31
    16 University of London Institute in Paris 88.24
    17 University of the West of England 88.15
    18 Royal Veterinary College 88.01
    19 University of Buckingham 87.88
    20 Arts University Bournemouth 87.84
    21 University of Dundee 87.61
    22 Hull York Medical School 87.5
    23 Durham University 87.31
    24 University of Lincoln 87.19
    25 Royal Holloway, University of London 87.15
    26 Trent University 87.13
    27 University of Glasgow 87.08
    28 University of Stirling 86.85
    29 Newman University 86.72
    30 Lancaster University 86.71
    31 University of Aberdeen 86.69
    =32 University of Chester 86.36
    =32 University of Strathclyde 86.36
    34 University of West London 86.34
    35 University of East Anglia 86.27
    36 University of Portsmouth 86.23
    37 St Mary's University 85.9
    38 University of Exeter 85.74
    39 Edinburgh Napier University 85.71
    40 University of Worcester 85.47
    41 University of York 85.39
    42 York St John University 85.35
    43 Bishop Grosseteste University 85.3
    44 University of Sheffield 85.28
    45 Glasgow Caledonian University 85.23
    46 University of Warwick 85.13
    47 Keele University 85.07
    48 University of the West of Scotland 84.94
    49 University of Plymouth 84.92
    50 University of Southampton 84.91
    51 Bangor University 84.9
    52 University of Chichester 84.81
    53 Leeds Beckett University 84.8
    54 Staffordshire University 84.76
    55 University of Derby 84.73
    56 Cardiff Metropolitan University 84.61
    57 Heriot-Watt University 84.35
    58 University of Hull 84.18
    59 University of Liverpool 84.14
    60 Liverpool Hope University 84.11
    61 University of Bolton 84.01
    62 Royal College of Music 84
    63 Liverpool John Moores University 83.8
    64 London School of Economics and Political Science 83.72
    65 University College Birmingham 83.67
    66 University of Reading 83.64
    67 Bucks New University 83.48
    68 University College of Estate Management 83.44
    69 Aston University 83.37
    70 Ulster University 83.36
    71 Royal Agricultural University 83.27
    =72 Manchester Metropolitan University 83.22
    =72 University of Wales Trinity Saint David 83.22
    74 Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts 82.87
    75 Leeds Arts University 82.83
    76 University of Birmingham 82.75
    77 Solent University 82.75
    =78 University of Kent 82.6
    =78 University of Leicester 82.6
    80 Queen Margaret University 82.59
    81 Birkbeck, University of London 82.58
    82 Coventry University 82.53
    83 Sheffield Hallam University 82.46
    84 University of Leeds 82.37
    85 University of Sunderland 82.34
    86 University of Roehampton 82.26
    87 University of the Highlands and Islands 82.22
    88 University of Essex 82.21
    89 Newcastle University 82.12
    90 University of Hertfordshire 82
    91 University of Nottingham 81.91
    92 University of Bristol 81.72
    93 Teesside University 81.65
    94 Anglia Ruskin University ARU 81.54
    95 Trinity University 81.44
    96 Cardiff University 81.43
    97 Imperial College London 81.37
    98 Regent's University London 81.3
    =99 Oxford Brookes University 81.28
    =99 University of South Wales 81.28
    101 Royal Northern College of Music 81.25
    102 University of Manchester 81.12
    103 Falmouth University 81.09
    104 Northumbria University 81.03
    =105 Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance 81.02
    =105 University of Winchester 81.02
    107 University of Sussex 81
    108 Queen's University of Belfast 80.98
    109 Kingston University 80.78
    110 Norwich University of the Arts 80.71
    111 Arden University 80.68
    =112 University of Gloucestershire 80.67
    =112 University of Wolverhampton 80.67
    114 UCL 80.61
    115 Wrexham Glyndŵr University 80.59
    116 University for the Creative Arts 80.44
    117 Queen Mary University of London 80.36
    118 Birmingham City University 80.31
    119 Bournemouth University 80.19
    120 London Metropolitan University 79.97
    121 Plymouth Marjon University 79.94
    122 University of Westminster 79.83
    123 University of Cumbria 79.78
    124 London South Bank University 79.54
    125 University of Northampton 79.41
    126 University of Surrey 79.23
    127 University of Salford 79.12
    128 University of Greenwich 78.86
    129 De Montfort University 78.63
    130 University of Huddersfield 78.13
    131 Bath Spa University 78.06
    132 St George's, Hospital Medical School 77.81
    133 Edge Hill University 77.8
    134 University of East London 77.69
    135 Brunel University London 77.58
    136 University of Edinburgh 77.57
    137 King's College London 77.5
    138 SOAS University of London 77.45
    139 Canterbury Christ Church University 77.41
    140 University of Bradford 77.21
    141 Middlesex University 77.04
    142 University of Central Lancashire 76.34
    143 University of Suffolk 75.97
    144 University of Brighton 75.62
    145 The London Institute of Banking and Finance 75.61
    146 City, University of London 74.2
    147 University of Bedfordshire 74.02
    148 Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama 73.74
    149 University of the Arts 70.79
    150 Ravensbourne  67.46
    151 University College of Osteopathy 64.06
    152 Rose Bruford College  60.71
    153 Glasgow School of Art 57.66

    Table note: this table does not include further education colleges and alternative higher education providers that don't have degree awarding powers

    Read more: National Student Survey 2020: satisfaction dips amid pandemic

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