Harper Adams University in top five for student satisfaction

Posted 12 August 2015

Harper Adams University is revealed today as the fifth best university in England for student satisfaction.

The enthusiasm of staff and their ability to explain things well have helped Harper Adams University to achieve an overall student satisfaction score of 93 per cent – with six individual courses hitting 100 per cent overall satisfaction – in the National Student Survey (NSS). 

The 93 per cent score places Harper Adams 5th in England and 7th overall out of the 155 UK higher education institutions that met the qualifying threshold for the survey. When smaller, specialist institutions are excluded, Harper Adams has the second top score in the UK (see table here)

The NSS ranks Harper Adams as the 4th best university in the UK for students receiving sufficient advice and support with their studies, and providing good advice when needed to make their study choices.

And Harper Adams is revealed as the 2nd best university in the country in response to the survey question “The timetable works efficiently as far as my activities are concerned”.

Other areas when Harper Adams University sits in the top 10 per cent include staff ability to explain things, courses being well organised, students able to present themselves with confidence and students having improved communication skills.

The 93 per cent score means Harper Adams maintains its position as the UK’s top specialist agri-food and rural studies university for student satisfaction. It already holds the best graduate employment rate in this sector. 

When the results are narrowed down to students completing their first degrees, the overall satisfaction rating is 94 per cent. 

University Director of Marketing and Communications, Lorraine Westwood, said: “We know that our consistently high level of student satisfaction has played an important part in so many students choosing Harper Adams University in recent years. We are delighted to have improved on what is already an excellent record, we are sure it will help give students and their parents even greater confidence in their selection of Harper Adams as a university of first choice.” 

At course level, highlights include honours degrees in Agricultural Engineering (BEng), Agri-food Marketing with Business Studies; Agriculture with Crop Management; Bioveterinary Science, Countryside and Environmental Management, and Food and Consumer Students, which all achieved at 100 per cent overall student satisfaction rating.

And in the NSS subject tables, Harper Adams University achieved the joint second highest rating for Food and Beverage Studies, with 93 per cent, and the joint third highest score for Agriculture and others in Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects. The university also had one of the top 10 scores for Mechanical, Production and Manufacturing Engineering. 

Commenting on the results of the NSS, Professor Madeleine Atkins, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, said: “The survey provides detailed and robust data which is used extensively by universities and colleges to improve the quality of their teaching and learning. It is also valuable in supporting prospective students and their parents and advisors in helping choose which higher education institution to select.”