The 2021 National Student Survey (NSS) results for the University of Nottingham are now available in the NSS Department Explorer on Tableau Server (please use the VPN if you are off campus).

Results were released on Thursday 15 July and a summary of the national picture can be found on the Office for Students website. 

This year’s NSS took place against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and successive national lockdowns and restrictions. The turbulence of the past year is reflected in the national picture of NSS scores, seeing the average overall satisfaction rating across the sector decline from 83% (in 2020) to 75.1%. 

At the University of Nottingham, our students’ overall satisfaction with their course dropped to 75.8%. We retained our place of 13th within the Russell Group. 

At an institutional level, the strongest performance continues to be teaching on the course (81.6%) and learning opportunities (79.3%). 

Six Schools/Departments saw an increase in their overall satisfaction score, with two scoring over 90%: Verterinary Medicine (99%) and Pharmacy (90.8%). 

The strongest improvements since 2020 can be seen in Education (77.8% to 88.9%), Politics & International Relations (74.2% to 81.6%) and Civil Engineering (70.7% to 78.3%). 

This year’s results highlight some key areas for improvement: assessment and feedback, student voice, learning resources and learning community. However, it should be noted that the latter two have likely been impacted by the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic. These areas are all being addressed in the Education and Student Experience Strategic Delivery plan and Professor Sarah Speight (Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience) has written to Heads of Schools/Departments with details of this. 

Further analysis of the data will be undertaken over the next few weeks to help inform actions to continue to maintain and improve the student experience at the University of Nottingham. 

For a more detailed breakdown of the results, please visit the Department Explorer Dashboard (please use the VPN if you are off campus).