News

Durham University welcomes results of National Student Survey

(22 September 2005)

Durham University welcomes the information from the National Student Survey (NSS) which it will use in implementing its teaching and learning strategy. It greatly values the feedback from its students and the results from the survey help to identify good practice and plan further systems of continuous improvement. The survey complements systems of gaining feedback already in place within academic departments, colleges and support units.

Overall Durham came joint tenth out of 131 institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in terms of overall satisfaction and came joint fifth in the same category out of the institutions that offer a similar range of course provision. It also performed well in comparison to institutions similar in terms of application requirements and course provision, coming out top in five out of seven of the survey categories.

Over 75% of the subject areas at Durham scored above the national median in the category of overall satisfaction, and over 50% of subject areas were in the upper quartile. These figures are supported by performance indicators published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency which show that 98% of Durham students complete their degrees, the third highest success rate in the UK. This suggests that the academic and pastoral support mechanisms are highly effective.

The variations in scores are very slight but also point towards some areas which may require further attention. As part of the University’s commitment to continuous improvement, these will be taken very seriously and reviewed by the University’s Teaching and Learning Committee.

It should be noted that the questions in the NSS focused on students’ experience of their degree programmes. In a collegiate university like Durham the student experience is much wider in scope, including involvement in activities at college and university level such as sports, drama and music, charity work and fundraising. We regard the holistic development of our students across this range of academic and extra-curricular activities as crucial to their overall development as individuals and members of a community. While the NSS provides valuable information about one aspect of this, it does not cover the broader student experience.

Durham University received the highest total average score out of the five institutions in the North East (Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside Universities), gaining the highest or joint highest score in six out of the seven categories.

At Durham, we are very proud of our successes but we are never complacent. We are committed to continuous improvement and we recognise that there are issues raised in the National Student Survey that need to be addressed. At the same time, the survey points to some areas of good practice which will provide us with models to be disseminated and shared.