Student surveys help us to understand our students' experience when they're here, and their success when they leave. This page focuses on the two main student surveys, the NSS and Graduate Outcomes.
The National Student Survey (NSS)
The National Student Survey (NSS) is a survey of final-year undergraduate students across every university in the UK, run by market research company Ipsos MORI.
The survey gives final-year students the chance to tell the world what's great about their course and about Solent University, as well as what could have been better. It's not just about lectures, but covers every aspect of academic life - resources, facilities, organisation, support and more.
Visit www.thestudentsurvey.com to find out more.
How is this information used?
Student feedback lets us recognise Solent's successes and identify those areas we need to improve.
NSS results are also published nationally, and are one of the measures which contribute to the main university league tables. They’re also listed on the Discover Uni website, which links through from UCAS - providing prospective students with information on what current Solent students feel about their time here.
Latest results: National Student Survey 2023
Solent scored higher than the sector in seven of the nine measures, achieving highest positivity measure (%) scores in the areas of 'learning resources' (87.3%), 'teaching on my course' (86.2%) and 'freedom of expression' (88.3%). Solent’s score for ‘assessment and feedback’ was ranked in the top 25 and achieved a score of 5 percentage points above the sector.
Solent is higher than the benchmark set for the institution for seven of the nine measures. Courses at Solent aligned to the subject area of ‘architecture’ are ranked first in the country for six of the nine measures. Courses aligned to the subject of 'media studies' are ranked in the top three for four of the nine measures.
| Â | Solent scores 2023 | Sector average scores 2023 | Difference between Solent and sector |
| The teaching on my course | 86.2% | 84.9% | +1.3% |
| Learning opportunities | 82.6% | 81.4% | +1.2% |
| Assessment and feedback | 82.8% | 77.8% | +5% |
| Academic support | 85.1% | 83.5% | +1.7% |
| Organisation and management | 71.7% | 73.6% | -1.9% |
| Learning resources | 87.3% | 86.2% | +1.1% |
| Student voice | 75.7% | 71.9% | +3.8% |
| Mental wellbeing | 71.1% | 75.4% | -4.3% |
| Freedom of expression | 88.3% | 85.9% | +2.4% |
Please note, the scores above relate to Solent’s taught provision only and not including partners delivering Solent courses at different locations.
Graduate Outcomes
Student success is one of our three strategic priorities at Solent. Through our 2025 strategy we have pledged that 70% of our graduates will be in highly skilled employment or further study.
The Graduate Outcomes Survey is one of the key measures used to report on this, influencing our league table positioning, TEF and our own internal course reviews. The survey is administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and replaced the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey. Now in it’s third year, this survey captures the perspectives and current status of recent graduates.
Results from 2020 for Solent 2019 graduates showed that:
- Solent’s employment rate is higher than the sector average for the second year in a row. This year our employment rate (83%) is 2 percentage points above the sector average (81%).
- Most Solent graduates regard their current activity as meaningful. The percentage of graduates who agreed or strongly agreed with this statement increased slightly from 79% in Year 1* to 80% in Year 2**.
* 2017/18 graduates
** 2018/19 graduates
