Scottish colleges and student representatives have questioned the validity of the National Student Survey (NSS), after three colleges received mixed results in this year’s figures.
West Lothian College was one of 10 colleges that achieved 100 per cent satisfaction in the annual survey. Edinburgh College also performed above average at 88 per cent satisfaction, against the average of 84 per cent.
However, City of Glasgow College - the only other Scottish college rated - received a satisfaction rating of 57 per cent.
The annual survey, published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) and completed by more than 300,000 students, measures the proportion taught at a university, college or alternative provider who were satisfied with the quality of their course.
The survey runs at all publicly-funded higher education institutions in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, and some alternative providers in England. Further education colleges in England and FE institutions in Wales can participate if they have directly funded higher education students.
Scottish colleges offer a large proportion of higher education but are not mentioned, while both City of Glasgow and Edinburgh have said that very small samples of students were used to work out their ratings.
Small sample size
NUS Scotland vice-president for education Jodie Waite said she would encourage colleges with poorer ratings to look at possible causes.
“The small sample size emphasises how unreliable the NSS can be as a measure of teaching quality, and underlines what a poor fit it is for Scotland’s college sector,” she added. “The key drive of quality enhancement should always lie in engaging students in their learning and teaching and developing more comprehensive feedback.”
Ms Waite said Scotland had rightly rejected the marketised approach to education. Instead of engaging in NSS, colleges should “focus their full energy on engaging in Scotland’s more comprehensive quality-enhancement arrangements, including the recent ‘How good is our college?’ framework”.
A City of Glasgow College spokeswoman said its 2016-17 student satisfaction survey via the Scottish Funding Council showed that 84 per cent of students were satisfied.
She highlighted NSS official notes, which state that students registered at Scottish FE colleges do not participate in the survey, and said “we are in discussions with our legal representatives as to why City of Glasgow College was included”.
An Edinburgh College spokesman said: “The sample size of our students surveyed in the NSS was small so doesn’t give the full picture. However, the results do correspond with the positive findings of our own recent student surveys, which show significant increases in student satisfaction over the last year.”
A spokesman for West Lothian College said that everyone at the college was delighted to have been given top marks. “It’s an incredible accomplishment to be the only Scottish college to achieve 100 per cent satisfaction for our degree-level students,” he added.
Professor Sir David Bell, chair of Hefce’s student information advisory group, said the results showed that universities and colleges continued to offer a high-quality experience for students. “The National Student Survey is instrumental in driving improvements across an increasingly diverse sector,” he said.
A Colleges Scotland spokeswoman said that colleges had their own systems for monitoring feedback from students.
