Bradford College Student Satisfaction ‘Surpasses All Yorkshire Public Universities’

Results of the latest annual National Student Survey (NSS) show greater satisfaction for higher education learners at Bradford College than those at all public universities in Yorkshire. 

The survey consisted of 27 mandatory questions, 25 of which were grouped into eight topics. The two standalone questions were for ‘overall satisfaction’ and ‘satisfaction with the Students’ Union.’

When standardised against the Office for Students (OfS) benchmark, Bradford College’s data was higher than all Yorkshire public universities for seven out of the eight grading topics. The seven areas in which the College outperformed peers were ‘teaching on my course,’ ‘learning opportunities,’ ‘assessment and feedback,’ ‘academic support,’ organisation and management,’ ‘learning community,’ and ‘student voice.’

The UK-wide survey is undertaken by final-year higher education (degree) students to give feedback on their courses.  Students studying at every university in the UK – as well as many colleges – take part in the NSS.  In total, 385 universities, colleges, and alternative providers in England were represented by over 324,000 students participating in the 2022 survey.

Craig Tupling, Vice Principal for Quality and Student Experience at Bradford College, said:

“We’re delighted that our degree students feel so positively about Bradford College. This is a testament to our extremely hard-working staff. We improved percentage scores for all 27 questions in the survey compared to the 2021 satisfaction results, and we also exceeded the benchmark set by the OfS for the College for every question in the survey, which is just fantastic!” 

When benchmarking against public Higher Education providers in Yorkshire, the figures also revealed:

• Bradford College survey response rate was 71% compared to the overall survey response rate of 69%. 
• For over half of the questions (14 out of 27) and half of the topics (4 out of 8), Bradford College satisfaction rate was significantly better than the benchmark.
• Bradford College exceeded the benchmark for all eight scales used in the survey.
• Satisfaction with the way Bradford College’s Students’ Union represents students’ academic interest (Q26) was significantly above benchmark.

Bradford College teaches a range of higher technical, professional, and degree courses, including Honours Degrees and Post-Graduate programmes, Foundation Degrees, HNDs and HNCs. In total, over 1,000 people study higher technical, professional programmes, and degrees at Bradford College every year.

The NSS survey is managed by the OfS on behalf of four UK funding and regulatory bodies. The NSS gathers this data annually to help inform prospective students’ choices, provide data that supports universities and colleges to improve the student experience, and support public accountability.