National Student Survey - guide for students

The 2025 National Student Survey results show that student satisfaction in the UK is improving.

Over 357,000 final year higher education students in the UK took part in the NSS in 2025. That’s approximately 71.5 per cent of students who were eligible, making the NSS the largest survey of its kind.

What do the results show?

Students were more positive about all areas of their experience in 2025, compared with 2024’s results.

Teaching on my course

The question students responded most positively to in this year's NSS, and in the ‘teaching on my course’ theme, was ‘how good are staff at explaining things?’, with 92.6 per cent of students responding positively.

Learning resources

Students were the most positive about the ‘learning resources’ theme this year, with 87.9 per cent of students responding positively to these questions.

The question with the highest score in this theme was ‘how well have the library resources…supported your learning?’, with 90.1 per cent of students responding positively.

Student voice

The ‘student voice’ was the lowest scoring theme overall, although it was also the theme which saw the greatest improvement from 2024.

77.4 per cent of students responded positively to these questions, compared with 74.0 per cent in 2024, an increase of 3.4 percentage points.

The question with the greatest improvement was ‘how clear is it that students’ feedback on the course is acted on?’, with a 4.6 percentage point increase.

What needs improving?

While 78.4 per cent of students responded positively to questions relating to organisation and management, the NSS found some universities and colleges are performing below expectations in this area.

The survey also found that students with recorded disabilities were less positive about their higher education experience across all survey themes than those without. 

The most significant differences were seen in responses to questions relating to organisation and management. Those with no reported disability had a positivity score of 79.9 per cent in this area, whereas those with a reported disability had a lower positivity score of 72.7 per cent.

Course-level NSS results will be published on the Discover Uni website in the autumn.

How will the results be used?

Universities and colleges use these results to improve their courses and services, so that students have a better higher education experience.