National Student Survey - NSS

Review of the National Student Survey

The Office for Students (OfS) board has agreed the future of the National Student Survey following the announcement of a review which will help reduce bureaucratic burden while ensuring the NSS remains an important indicator of students’ opinions and experiences.

The review follows a request by the universities minister to address concerns about how survey may be creating burden and impacting on standards, while ensuring the NSS remains an important indicator of student opinion.

A two-stage internal review process of the survey is to be conducted. The first stage will address those concerns and will report later this year. The second stage will look more widely at the role of the NSS, including which questions should be asked to support regulation and student information across all four countries of the UK.

Terms of reference

The terms of reference for the first phase of the review will be:

Clarify the purpose of the NSS in the current higher education landscape.
Assess the bureaucratic burden the NSS places on providers and how this could be reduced.
Explore the unintended and unanticipated consequences of the NSS for provider behaviour, and how these could be prevented, including whether the NSS drives the lowering of academic standards and grade inflation.
Examine the appropriate level at which the NSS could continue to provide reliable data on the student perspective on their subject, provider and the wider system, and what could be done without depending on a universal annual sample.
Examine the extent to which data from the NSS should be made public including the implications of Freedom of Information legislation.
Ensure the OfS has the data it needs to regulate quality effectively.
Ensure the NSS will stand the test of time and can be adapted and refined periodically to prevent gaming.
Ensure the UK wide role of the survey is considered in any recommendations.

Additional information

Working group

The review is being internally led by Conor Ryan, Director of External Relations, with Richard Puttock, Director of Data, Foresight and Analysis (DFA) as deputy chair.

Membership of the NSS working group

PDF, 114Kb

Methodology and collecting feedback

The review has the following main audiences:

Students and students’ unions

The NSS is currently the largest UK-wide mechanism to measure student satisfaction. It is important that students can shape any recommendations which come from the review of the NSS.

As part of the review, we will:

engage applicants, current students and graduates through a sample survey and workshops
engage students’ unions through a sample survey and roundtables in collaboration with the National Union of Students.

Higher education providers, both in England and in the wider UK

Providers use the NSS for a number of purposes, such as policy formation, student engagement and course enhancement activities. It is important that we hear views from a range of providers on the issues in the terms of reference.

As part of the review, we will:

seek the input of higher education mission groups
engage providers using a survey and a series of roundtables.

Stakeholders and sector experts

The NSS is currently used in league tables and several information websites, as well as by information, advice and guidance practitioners, among others.

As part of the review, we will:

engage student representatives, including the National Union of Students, as well as academics and sector experts on the NSS review working group
coordinate listening sessions with key sector stakeholders
hold one-to-one interviews with experts.

Data analysis

As part of the review, the OfS is also undertaking data analysis to explore:

the feasibility of different sampling approaches for the NSS
possible links between the NSS and grade inflation.

If you have any questions or comments about this review, please email [email protected].

Published 24 September 2020
Last updated 30 November 2020 + show all updates

30 November 2020: Membership of the NSS working group added.
27 October 2020: Update to the methodology and collecting feedback section and the terms of reference. Word version of stakeholder survey added.
23 October 2020: Links to register for student and student unions' workshops removed
21 October 2020: Link added to the NSS stakeholder survey
09 October 2020: Details of students' union roundtable event added
06 October 2020: Links added to register for student workshops

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National Student Survey - NSS

Review of the National Student Survey

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