Students vote Bridgend College best FE College #WUSCA 2018

Bridgend College wins FE College Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2018 #WUSCA

Bridgend College has won the FE College category of the 2018 Whatuni Student Choice Awards. In second place was DN Colleges Group and third place went to Bournemouth and Poole College, in the awards voted for entirely by students.

More students than ever had their say – with 36,440 reviews and comments submitted, rating their overall university experience 4.01 out of 5. Despite falls overall and in the majority of categories, students scored their universities higher than last year for Uni Facilities and Job Prospects.

Meanwhile, Wales hosts the happiest students in the UK and students are least satisfied in London.Ten different winners were announced at an awards ceremony last night in London, which included three new categories: Independent HE, Further Education and a submission-based award for Best Prospective Student Engagement, judged by the Whatuni Student Advisory Board.

The 12 main categories feature 126 institutions and 148 institutions are featured in total across all 15 categories (see Fig 1). Loughborough University was crowned overall University of the Year.

Loughborough University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Allison, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Loughborough has been crowned – for the second time – the Whatuni Student Choice Awards University of the Year. As this award is voted for by students it makes it even more of an achievement.

“The Loughborough community is amazing. Our unique partnership with the Students’ Union and the energy and commitment of our staff have enabled us to create an environment where our students not only get the best educational experience, but also an amazing life experience.

“It is an honour to be named University of the Year and everyone across our Loughborough and London campuses should feel incredibly proud of our success.”What the 2018 Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCA) results tell us  

The main category with the highest average is the Overall Satisfaction category, scoring 4.01 out of 5 and outperforming other individual “component part” categories.

• Although the Overall category is the best scoring category, it’s dipped from 4.07 (2017) to 4.01 (2018).
• Out of the 126 universities featured in the main categories, 84 have seen their scores in the Overall category drop since last year. The decline is relatively small in most instances, but two universities have dropped by 10%.
• In addition to a drop in the Overall category, there have also been falls in Accommodation, City Life, Course & Lecturers and Clubs & Societies categories.
• The categories proving hardest to crack are Students’ Union (3.69 out of 5), Accommodation (3.70) and Giving Back (3.54).
• Good news for student employability as there’s been a noticeable increase in the perceived Job Prospects category, which has risen from 3.88 (2017) to 3.97 (2018), building on significant growth in the previous year.
• The other category where the average score across the UK increased was Uni Facilities. It is the second highest score, behind the Overall category.
• Regionally, the happiest students this year can be found in Wales (holding onto its 2017 crown).
• London-based students had the lowest satisfaction score in the Overall category.
• Students in 8 out of 12 UK regions were less happy in 2018 compared to 2017, although students in the North East, Scotland and Northern Ireland were more satisfied this year.

Figure 1. Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2018 vs 2017 results 
*new categories for 2018
 

Aaron Porter, Director of Policy & Engagement, Hotcourses Group, commented:

“Collectively the sector may wish to take note that overall satisfaction across the sector has fallen compared to 2017, engaging with students directly will be the best way to reverse this trend. Despite the decline overall satisfaction remains above 80%, a score many other sectors would be enviable of, and we should take the time to congratulate the staff who work in our higher education providers for the excellent work that they do.”

Simon Emmett, Hotcourses Group Chief Executive, said:

“We have grown used to an increasingly contested and standardised view of universities, but many reviews we’ve collected this year show those views are not necessarily shared by students. Our collection of almost 37,000 reviews gives voice to students’ lived experiences of university and while there are challenges, the results delivered many positive comments about university experience that will help inspire prospective students faced with the difficult decision of where to study.”Mark Leach, Founder and Editor of Wonkhe, said: “Reviews from over 36,000 students in this year’s Whatuni Student Choice Awards provide an important insight into student satisfaction at a critical time for UK higher education. The opinions of students offer a valuable resource in helping institutions remain accountable and help us understand trends across the sector.

“Overall satisfaction has dropped year-on-year, as has Course & Lecturers, but it is encouraging to see the perception of job prospects going up, despite recent media and political debates that have questioned the economic value of higher education”.

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2018 results University of the Year
1^st Loughborough University
2^nd Harper Adams

3^rd Bangor University

Accommodation

1^st Bangor University
2^nd Edge Hill University

3^rd  Harper Adams University

City Life

1^st University of Liverpool
2^nd Newcastle University

3^rd University of Glasgow

Clubs & Societies

1^st Bangor University
2^nd  Harper Adams University

3^rd Loughborough University

Course & Lecturers

1^st Harper Adams University
2^nd Bangor University

3^rd University of Buckingham

Giving Back
1^st Loughborough University

2^nd SOAS University of London

3^rd Harper Adams UniversityJob Prospects

1^st Harper Adams University
2^nd Loughborough University

3^rd St George’s, University of London

Student Support

1^st Harper Adams University
2^nd Leeds Arts University

3^rd Loughborough University

Students’ Union

1^st University of Sheffield
2^nd Loughborough University

3^rd University of Leeds

Uni Facilities

1^st Loughborough University
2^nd Leeds Arts University

3^rd Harper Adams University

International

1^st University of Glasgow
2^nd Aberystwyth University

3^rd Northumbria University

Postgraduate

1^st Aberystwyth University
2^nd University of Glasgow

3^rd University of Kent

Independent

1^st Point Blank Music School
2^nd Norland College

3^rd Futureworks

Further Education
1^st Bridgend College
2^nd DN Colleges Group

3^rd Bournemouth and Poole College

Best Prospective Student Engagement Award (submission based)
1^st St Mary’s, Twickenham

2^nd Futureworks

3^rd University of Bradford

About the Whatuni Student Choice Awards – #WUSCA: The main categories for the Whatuni Student Choice Awards are compiled entirely from student reviews, which are a combination of electronic and physically collected reviews by the Whatuni team who this year travelled 34,000 miles. The results are both quantitative (scores) and qualitative (free text) and the total reviews for 2017/18 collected in excess of 36,440.

The Whatuni review questions cover 12 principle areas: Accommodation, City Life, Clubs & Societies, Course & Lecturers, Giving Back, Job Prospects, Student Support, Students’ Union, Facilities, International, Postgraduate and Overall Satisfaction.

This year, 2018, marks the introduction of three new categories: FE College & Independent HE (online only) and Best Prospective Student Engagement (submission judged by the Whatuni Student Advisory Board, made up of students from across the UK).To feature in the main categories, institutions need taught degree awarding powers. Threshold for feature in the main categories is 150-200 depending on institution size and FE College and Independent institutions have lower thresholds. 

About Whatuni: Whatuni is the biggest and most comprehensive course comparison university site in the UK and is part of the Hotcourses Group. Whatuni uses up-to-date course data from UCAS, KIS and The Complete University Guide table rankings, as well as its own data and insights collected throughout the year, including the 129,000 student reviews that are currently hosted on the site. 

About Hotcourses Group: The Hotcourses Group owns and runs several education comparison sites including The Complete University Guide, Whatuni, Postgraduate Search, Hotcourses Abroad and a suite of local language websites for international students. It employs over 350 people in offices across the world in London, Sydney, Chennai and Boston.In 2017, Hotcourses Group was acquired by IDP Education, a world leader in international student placement services. The combination of IDP and Hotcourses Group creates a seamless digital and face-to-face student journey and enables institutions to connect with an unparalleled reach of researching students.