Student satisfaction on the rise

Figures from the latest National Student Survey (NSS) show rising levels of student satisfaction across the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience (HSB) at the University of East London.  

Overall, across the HSB, 74 per cent of students were satisfied with their courses, an eight per cent increase from 2022. The survey showed 87 per cent of responding students were positive in the “Teaching on my Course” category, an increase of 13 per cent compared to 2022.  The “Learning Resources” category did even better, with 88 per cent of students positive about this aspect of their course.  

The NSS asks final-year students in all British higher education institutions their opinions on the quality of their courses and is widely regarded as the most accurate measure of student satisfaction. 

Courses including BSc Sports Performance and Coaching, BSc Nursing (Adult), FdSc Nursing Associate, BSc Public Health and BSc Biomedical Science were amongst the top-rated courses within the school. 

Rob Waterson, the school’s dean said,

We are delighted to see such positive results and these mark significant progress for UEL. Our departments include a very dedicated and professional team of experts in their respective fields. We are abreast of developments in the NHS, including in the nursing profession, which is important for the future employability of our students in NHS trusts.   

“The student voice is incredibly important in our educational mission, and we are pleased that three-quarters of our students expressed positivity about the student voice being heard at UEL.” 

On the BSc Sports Coaching and Performance course, 97 per cent of students surveyed responded positively to questions on “Learning Resources”. The course achieved a score of 100 per cent in “Wellbeing Support”, an area surveyed in this year's NSS for the first time. 

Nursing courses ranked second in London for “Learning Resources”, and on the FdSc Nursing Associate course, 91 per cent of students surveyed responded positively to questions on “The Teaching on my Course”, and the figure was 93 per cent for BSc Nursing (Adult). 

Biomedical sciences courses were also highly ranked, with the highest ratings of any London educational institution in the “Teaching on my Course” and “Learning Opportunities” categories.  

The BSc in Public Health was ranked first in London for “Assessment and Feedback” and “Student Voice”. The course was also highly rated for “Academic Support”, with a score of 96 per cent while “Teaching” scored 94 per cent. 

Senior Lecturer in Nursing, Kelly Ncube, commented, “Our nursing programmes include diversity, inclusivity which is reflected in our student population and makes UEL very attractive to prospective future nurses.  

“The opening of our interprofessional Hospital and Primary Care Training and Simulation Hub by His Majesty King Charles this year was one of our greatest achievements as we celebrate our 125th anniversary as a higher education institute.  We showcased our world-class facilities, immersive learning technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and our Oxford Medication Simulation platform to the global community.  

“Our student success stories at local and national have had a huge impact on our current student population. A great success story is our final year nursing student, Banjo Tamiru, who won the Student Nursing Times Award.” 

Commenting on the FdSc Nursing Associate course, Associate Professor Georgie Cox added that the positive feedback was thanks to the staff’s dedication and team effort.  

“We are also grateful for the efficiency of the apprentice coaches, without whom we wouldn’t be able to run our programmes. Since trailblazing the self-funding route, we are proud of our phenomenal student feedback.” 

Programme Leader for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Richard Buscombe, added, "The sport and exercise sciences team are pleased with the NSS outcome and we are happy to see that our students have rated us so positively.  Post Covid-19 we have all been working hard to reconnect with students and we feel that the outcome here is a result of this work.  There is always room to improve but we are ahead of the curve in that sense having already started to look at embedding qualifications, rolling out the new learner designer framework and continuing with our focus on supporting students to be ready for employment." 

Recent analysis in the influential Times Higher Education publication revealed that UEL ranked 13th for overall positivity among large UK institutions, demonstrating the success of the university’s careers-focused, student-ready environment.   

UEL’s overall NSS response rate was an impressive 76 per cent – five per cent above the sector average. According to the NSS 2023 results across all course subjects, UEL ranks ninth among all the 128 higher education institutes surveyed for “Assessment and Feedback”, 10th for “Student Voice”, and 12th for “Learning Opportunities”.