UCU comment on national student survey

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It is encouraging that once again the vast majority of students are satisfied with the quality of teaching and academic support. University staff rarely get the recognition they deserve for all the pastoral work they do.
 
'The real worry is that cuts to the higher education budget will leave staff with even more demanding workloads at a time when students and their families start to expect more bang for the extra bucks they are being forced to shell out for a university education.
 
'If satisfaction rates are to remain high then universities and staff must be given the resources they need to deliver a quality of education students will continue to expect.'
 
In this year's National Student Survey 83 per cent of students studying at UK higher education institutions and further education colleges said they were satisfied overall with their course. In each of the seven categories covered by the survey, satisfaction had either improved since 2010 or stayed the same.
 
Eighty-four per cent of students were satisfied with the quality of teaching on their courses and 77 per cent were satisfied with the academic support they received.