St Mary’s Amongst Top Nationally for Overall Satisfaction

St Mary’s University, Twickenham has continued its excellent student satisfaction ratings in this year’s National Student Survey (NSS), ranking amongst the top universities nationally.

The annual survey, which asks final year students to rate their university experience in a range of areas, found that students at the University have rated St Mary’s third in London for overall student satisfaction amongst higher education institutions with university status. St Mary’s continued to outperform the sector this year, ranking 18^th nationally for overall satisfaction, 6.3% ahead of the sector average.

St Mary’s also ranked second in London amongst higher education institutions with university status for learning opportunities and learning community. The University outperformed the sector average in the six other key categories:

• Teaching on my course
• Academic support
• Student voice
• Assessment and feedback
• Learning resources
• Organisation and management

The brilliant results also continued at subject level, with 14 of the 18 subjects offered at St Mary’s outperforming the sector average. The highest performing course was the University’s Ofsted Outstanding foundation education programme, which recorded 100% overall satisfaction.

Creative Writing meanwhile achieved a rating of 90% (+15% on sector average). This was followed closely by undergraduate Teacher Training (+10%), Marketing (+17%), and Health Sciences (+16%) achieving 89% overall satisfaction.

Speaking of the results, St Mary’s Vice-Chancellor Anthony McClaran said, “I am delighted that our students have rated us so highly in this year’s NSS. This has been a particularly challenging year for our students, with the rapidly changing global and national situation surrounding Covid-19. I would like to thank all of our staff for the amazing way they have supported our students throughout their time at the university and our students for the resilience that shown over this extraordinary year.”

St Mary’s Students’ Union (SMSU) also performed well in rankings, with students rating it second in London. SMSU had a strong year of campaigning at the University, with their successful period poverty campaign ensuring funding for free period products across the University, amongst others. Their brilliant ‘Simmies at Home’ campaign and ‘Student Reconnect Week’ also helped keep students­­ entertained during the lockdowns and the return to campus in May.

SMSU Student Life President Ahmed El Hana said, “It’s amazing we’ve been rated the second best SU in London! I’d like to thank all of the SU team for their work over the past year supporting students, including this year’s Officer Team. We’ve got lots planned for the year ahead to make it the best year for the Simmie community.”