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Photo: University of St. Andrews
The results of the UK-wide National Student Survey, one of the largest of its kind in the world, were published today. The survey captures final year undergraduate’s opinions about their experiences at university, including how their course was organised, taught and assessed.
Students in Scotland are also asked to condense their judgement in a question that asks about their overall satisfaction. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the trend has been for less positive responses in this part of the survey. Overall satisfaction in Scotland fell from 85% in 2020 to 77.1% in 2023. However, this year’s results see the trend continuing to be reversed with a 2.6% increase on the 2024 results bringing overall student satisfaction for 2025 to 80.7%.
Over 350,000 students responded to the 2025 National Student Survey and around 25,000 of these responses came from students at a Scottish university. Since its introduction in 2005, questions asked in the national survey have changed. The current set of questions was introduced in 2023.
Francesca Osowska, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said:
“The experience of students at university during and immediately after the pandemic was inevitably affected despite the best efforts of Scottish universities to alleviate the situation.
“It’s great to see the continuation of an upward trend in overall satisfaction in the sector. It shows the positive impact of focusing on student needs and the quality of learning and teaching.”
Further information about the National Student Survey 2025 is available from the Office for Students website.
