The 2011 National Student Survey, which measures how highly students rate their university, has been published. I’m delighted to say that LSE has performed strongly with overall satisfaction at 84 per cent.
This is a good result in itself, putting LSE above the national average and in line with most of its Russell Group peers. Even more impressive though is that our levels of student satisfaction have risen more sharply in the past two years than almost anywhere else – from 76 per cent in 2009.
Besides overall satisfaction, the survey rates institutions in six particular categories: teaching, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management, learning resources and personal development. LSE scores improved in five of the six.
Frankly, our performance in years gone by was not good enough and the recent clear improvements are a testament to the hard work and dedication of staff who have made great efforts to ensure the quality of students’ experience at LSE. I would also like to thank our students, not only those final-year undergraduates who took part in the survey but all those who have worked with us to suggest ways in which the student experience could be improved.
In particular, the NSS results are starting to show the effects of the Teaching Task Force which was set up in 2007 to improve the educational experience of all students at LSE and which resulted in an extra £3 million being invested each year in teaching.
We are not complacent. In some areas, such as feedback and assessment and in personal development, our rating is still lower than we would like and than our students deserve. But I believe the dramatic rise in satisfaction shows that LSE is making improvements where they are most needed to ensure we remain a world-class place of study.
For an overview of the National Student Survey 2011
see http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2011/
For the full data, searchable by course and institution, see http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/
Professor Judith Rees, Director
17 August 2011