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BUCKINGHAM'S SUCCESS IN THE 2009 NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY (NSS)

Buckingham students celebrating after graduating in 2009

Thursday 6 August 2009

The annual National Student Survey (NSS) polls every final year student in Britain about their satisfaction with teaching and care. The survey is made by an independent polling agency, Ipsos MORI, on behalf of the Government's Higher Education Funding Council. Every year either we or the Open University (OU) comes top of the universities' list (excluding certain small specialist colleges). This year, the consensus in the newspapers is that the OU has won and that Buckingham has shared second place (The Guardian, The Times, The BBC, The Financial Times (external links). Unlike the OU though, which does distance learning, we are a campus university.

The Times Higher Education (external link) is the university sector's journal, and like the Sunday Times it analyses the data more comprehensively than do most newspapers (the THE averages the responses to all 22 questions in the survey, it does not just report on the responses to the last summary question) and for the fourth year running it has placed us as the top university in the UK (though, again, certain small specialist colleges do well). Either way, regardless of how the results are analysed, they speak of our care for students.

Dr Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor of Buckingham, said: "These results once again endorse our aim to provide the best educational experience for every student. It is clear that student expectation is increasing and we will not be complacent but will further raise our standards to ensure that all students - present and future - continue to enjoy the best experience available in the UK."

Report by the Publicity Office