Edinburgh’s legacy: We can’t get no satisfaction

Low student satisfaction is consistently cited as the main reason for Edinburgh’s plummet in global rankings.

It’s so bad the Complete Universities Guide ranks us second worst for, only ahead of the illustrious institution that is St George’s, University of London.

And The Times University Guide 2015 put the university at 22^nd overall but at a horrific 115^th for satisfaction. The Guardian University Guide 2015 puts us at a slightly more creditable 18^th overall.

London Met is right at the bottom of the league table but still kicks our feedback satisfaction rates in to touch.

One unsatisfied Edinburgh student.

But the uni is aware of the situation. The General Council of the university said: “We recognise that we need to improve student satisfaction with feedback, and in recent years have undertaken various actions to improve the feedback that students receive.

“We have piloted innovative approaches to feedback, and are assisting some subject areas to undertake fundamental reviews of the balance of assessments across their programmes.”

Fairly new measures such as the personal tutor scheme are also yet to have a full impact on these scores.

But for some claim this is not enough. Second year Haris Haseeb said: “People feel they don’t get enough communication between teachers or tutors. A lot of people think personal tutors seem disinterested.”

This guy is definitely unsatisfied with the personal tutor system.

Others feel that student feedback isn’t the only issue and that it is a university wide problem.

Andrew Hobson, another second year, said: “The problem is, due to their reputation of being able to attract Nobel Prize winners and such as lecturers, people are still desperate to go to the uni so they don’t mind that student satisfaction is one of the lowest in the UK.”

Q: How many of these students are dissatisfied? A: All of them, probably

EUSA President Briana Pegado said: “For student satisfaction to improve, teaching needs to be rewarded and regarded as highly as research at this institution.

“I fundamentally believe that until we are regarded as equal partners in our education and that philosophy is embedded into the way education is delivered at Edinburgh, we will not be satisfied.”

EUSA is currently working to promote curriculum co-creator projects allowing students to create courses alongside academics and take ownership of their degree.

But the Edinburgh student body will not truly be satisfied until we are perched right at the top of every league table. Ever.