University of Southampton tumble down student satisfaction rankings

The University of Southampton has fallen from 14th to 18th out of 113 universities in the Times Higher Education‘s Student Satisfaction survey rankings, with an overall rating falling from 80.6 to 79.3.

Are students increasingly dissatisfied with Southampton Uni?

Southampton had been in the top ten with a score of 82.3 as recently as 2012, though has been in a consistent decline since achieving seventh place in 2011.

The survey, which ranks universities on 21 categories measuring student satisfaction, shows a growing level of discontent among Southampton students with the quality of the Student Union and sports facilities.

The Student Union fell from 5.6 out of 7 in 2013 to 5.5 in 2014, with a national average of 5.1. Sports facilities similarly fell from 5.8 to 5.7, though still above the national average of 5.3.

The survey also shows students believe the University has poor connections to industry, with respondents rating the Uni’s links to prospective career opportunities at just 5.5.

Despite the overall decline in satisfaction, responses show areas of strength for Southampton, highlighting in particular the ‘environment on campus’ and ‘societies’, which each garnered a strong 6.2 rating.

Despite the rankings fall, the University still remains firmly above average in all categories except ‘security’, which matched the average at 5.6.

The survey was based on responses from almost 14,700 undergraduate students, including 244 from the University of Southampton.

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