National Student Survey reveals Edinburgh students are ‘dissatisfied’ with their courses

The 2022 National Student Survey results have been released, with 27 questions being answered by 64 per cent of final year undergraduate students about aspects of their course.

Overall course satisfaction increased since by one per cent in 2021 when 71.07 per cent of students said they were ‘satisfied with the quality of their course’, however, both scores are ‘significantly below’ the benchmark score of 77.62 per cent.

Out of the 27 questions, Edinburgh scored ‘significantly below’ benchmark on 17 questions and ‘not significantly different’ to benchmark on 10 questions, but saw less student satisfaction compared to last year.

In an email to students, Vice-Principal Colm Harmon said that “we are seeing improvements in student satisfaction” but that the university “recognises that we are still a long way off where we would like to be.”

When asked if they were surprised about the universities ‘below benchmark’ results over 95 students said they were “not surprised at all” with one saying that their “course this year was very poorly structured and I had no contact time at all.”

The results differed slightly from those from 2021, with the question ‘I have the right opportunities to provide feedback on my course’ scoring ‘above benchmark’ with an 84.79 per cent against an 81.22 per cent benchmark which this year fell to 81.49 per cent.

The biggest gap between the university’s results and the benchmark was for the question ‘Feedback on my work has been timely’ which in 2022 had a benchmark score of 61.37 per cent and the university scored only 39.31 per cent, a decrease of more than 10 per cent from 2021.

The university announced that it would be introducing a Curriculum Transformation Programme which sets out a vision of “outstanding educational experience” with Edinburgh degrees being a foundation for “future learning, ethical global citizenship, and enhanced employability.”

A new model of Student Support has also been announced following the results which will focus on providing an “improved approach to advice and wellbeing for students, with dedicated staff in each department to support students.”

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