Nearly three quarters (71.8 per cent) of eligible final-year
undergraduates across the four nations made their voices heard in
the annual higher education experience survey.
The National Student Survey (NSS) asks students across the UK to
share their views on themes including academic support, teaching
and assessments, and the wider student experience. The findings
will help prospective students choose between different courses
and institutions, as well as supporting universities and colleges
to improve experiences for all students.
With a higher proportion of students responding positively across
all themes compared to 2025, this marks another year of
improvement in how students' view their courses. Over 360,000
students across the UK shared their views this year, and for
students studying in England, the results showed:
- Almost nine in ten (88.1 per cent) students responded
positively to questions relating to teaching on my course'
compared with 86.9 per cent in 2025.
- 80.2 per cent of students responded positively to questions
relating to the student voice', which look at the extent to which
students' feedback is considered and acted on by institutions.
This compares to 77.6 per cent in 2025.
- While most students (81.1 per cent) responded positively to
questions relating to the organisation and management of their
course, the survey found that the positivity score for some
institutions was significantly lower than expected.
- Across all survey themes, students aged 31 and above were
more positive about their higher education experience than
younger students.
- As in previous years, disabled students were less positive
about their higher education experience across all survey themes
than those who did not report a disability, with the most
significant differences seen in responses to questions relating
to organisation and management' and the student voice'.
Chief executives of the OfS, Ruth Hannant and Polly Payne
said:
We're pleased to see that the proportion of students in England
who view their higher education experience positively has
increased for another year running. That should give us all
confidence in the ability of our universities and colleges to
deliver the high quality teaching, learning, and support that
every student is entitled to.
It's especially encouraging to see that nearly 90 per cent of
students have good things to say about the teaching quality of
their courses. We know that most institutions work hard to ensure
students are engaged, intellectually stimulated, and suitably
challenged, and the data shows those efforts are paying off. With
the changes we recently announced to the way we regulate the
quality of courses, we plan to use future survey results to help
universities and colleges to continuously improve and better
recognise those institutions going above and beyond.
We encourage institutions to view their individual results as an
opportunity to think ambitiously about how they can continue to
improve the quality of their offer across the board. The results
also suggest they should be thinking about how they can tailor
their approach for different groups of students. It is concerning
that disabled students continue to report worse experiences than
their peers and we want to help institutions put this right. We
are currently developing a new statement of expectations, which
will set out what we expect of universities and colleges to
ensure that disabled students can access, participate in, and
achieve good outcomes in higher education.
Thank you to every student who shared feedback this year. Your
views will help prospective students make important decisions
about where and what to study and give universities and colleges
crucial insights into how experiences vary across their student
populations. At the OfS, we'll be using the findings to further
develop our understanding of students' wants and needs as we work
to ensure all students get an excellent higher education, are
treated fairly, and are supported to succeed in their studies and
beyond.'
Explore the NSS 2026
results
ENDS
Notes
- The Office for Students is the independent regulator for
higher education in England. Our strategy for 2025 to
2030 seeks to ensure that students from all backgrounds
benefit from high quality higher education, delivered by a
diverse, sustainable sector that continues to improve.
- In 2025, the OfS used the NSS platform to invite all final
year students in England to complete a pilot of the sexual
misconduct survey (SMS) immediately after submitting their NSS
response. To help build evidence over time, we intend to run a
further SMS linked to the National Student Survey (NSS) in 2027.
As in 2025, the two surveys will remain separate.Find out more about the
SMS.
-
Find out more about our
new quality assessment system.
-
Find out more about our
statement of expectations in relation to disability.
