Satisfaction Levels Fall
A large number of students across the country have voiced their objections to the rise in university tuition fees by refusing to take part in the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is sent out annually to all undergraduate students in their final year of study. It has an impact on how much top scoring universities are able to charge for tuition, with those ranking highly being given permission to charge more than the current upper limit of £9,000 per year. By not taking part, it is being argued that students are taking a stand against this.
NSS Suggests Student Satisfaction Levels are Falling
The NSS is sent out every year and it allows students to provide feedback on their universities, on aspects such as the quality of courses offered. However, this year a number of top institutions declined to take part. Though the NSS is a completely voluntary way of collecting data, this is the first year that a lot of institutions have opted out.
Leaders of the National Union of Students (NUS) argued that by giving their feedback students would be compliant in the opportunity to raise tuition fees, which most are against. Therefore, the NUS called on university unions to encourage students not to respond. It’s thought that the fall in responses shows that students are not willing to be used to help any tuition increases to go ahead. Figures published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) also shows a fall in student satisfaction levels for the first time in a number of years. According to Hefce figures, 84% of final year students say they were happy with the quality of their education. This was a decline from the 86% that was seen in previous years.
It’s not just tuition fees that make further education a costly endeavor for many students, but general living and studying costs also. There’s no denying that a lot of students struggle to work and study at the same time, with job flexibility proving to be a problem. This is why a lot of students are now seeking out freelancing job opportunities at The Work Vault.