Student satisfaction at the University of Sussex has fallen overall but risen for teaching, according to the results of the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS), published today (Wednesday 15 July).

Falling three percentage points, overall student satisfaction at Sussex now stands at 81 per cent, which is below the sector average of 82.5 per cent and well short of the University’s target.

The University scored below average across all themes included in the survey.

Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor, said: “There is no getting away from the fact that this is a sobering set of results.

“We all know that the University of Sussex is a far better institution than these results indicate – however, we have to listen to what our students are telling us and respond.

“In particular, we need to continue to invest in the student experience and our technology and infrastructure. We have a number of long-term projects coming to fruition in a year or so, such as the opening of the new Student Centre and improvements to our wi-fi on campus, and we have already done the detailed groundwork to progress the other main areas we need to address.

“That satisfaction with teaching has gone up this year, despite everything, is testament to the hard work of staff.

“But it’s not enough. If we don’t act now to address this feedback, it will become exponentially challenging to meet the needs of our students and, as an institution, we will just not be an attractive place for students to study. Our students are entrusting us with their education and we should never forget that.

“This is something that we all need to get behind, academics and professional services staff, and I’m asking on behalf of our students that you do all that you can in the coming weeks and months to continue to do your utmost.”

Here are Sussex’s headline results for 2020 (shown as proportion of survey respondents who said they were satisfied): 

• Overall satisfaction – 81 per cent

Satisfaction with:

• Teaching – 83 per cent
• Learning opportunities – 79.7 per cent
• Assessment and feedback – 66.8 per cent
• Academic support – 75.3 per cent
• Organisation and management – 70.9 per cent
• Learning resources – 84.6 per cent
• Learning community – 67.7 per cent
• Student voice – 67.6 per cent

Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), which is jointly run by the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton, with NHS partners, achieved an overall satisfaction rate of 96 per cent.  All participants agreed that their course had provided them with opportunities to apply what they had learnt and 99 per cent agreed that their course was intellectually stimulating.

Malcolm Reed, Dean of BSMS, said: “This year’s NSS results again reflect the very positive student experience of studying at BSMS, despite a very challenging few months for final-year students, who had to finish early to join the NHS workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am grateful to every member of staff from BSMS and our NHS partners who have worked hard to ensure our students are fully prepared for a career as compassionate and outstanding doctors. It has been wonderful to see many of our final year students take the opportunity to work as interim foundation year 1 doctors and we wish them every success in their future careers wherever that may take them.”

The NSS is carried out every year by a polling company on behalf of the government and is designed to help future university students choose what and where to study. It questions final-year undergraduate students in their last few weeks of university.