Another excellent year for student positivity at Leicester, as it scores highly for student voice and course management in the 2024 National Student Survey

A national survey of students has seen the University of Leicester strengthen its excellent reputation in the areas of course organisation and management, and student voice.

The annual National Student Survey is one of its largest exercises of its kind in the world, with almost 346,000 final year students in the UK taking time to answer questions on their university experience. The 2024 edition of the survey posed 26 core questions on issues including academic experience, teaching and assessments, and well-being services.

Leicester has recorded an impressive result in the Organisation and Management category, where it is ranked eighth out of 115 higher education institutions, with more than 84% of students responding positively to questions in this group. This category comprised two questions which asked students how well their course was organised and how well any changes to teaching on their course were communicated.

The University came 13th out of 115 institutions in the Student Voice category, with more than 79% of students responding positively. This category comprised three questions. They covered: the extent to which students get the right opportunities to give feedback on their course; the extent to which students’ opinions about the course are valued by staff; and how clear is it that students’ feedback on the course is acted on.

View the NSS questions all students were asked.

Leicester was also in the top 30 for Academic Support, where it was placed 25th, with more than 87% of students responding positively to questions in this group.

Overall, the University was ranked in the top 30 UK institutions, in 27th place according to analysis by the Times Higher Education.

Subject-wise, students were asked a number of questions to gauge their overall positivity about their courses.

Medicine and Modern Languages were both rated top in the UK for Overall Positivity. Geology, Natural Sciences and Archaeology & Ancient History (Classics) were all ranked second, while Geography at Leicester came third position. Physiotherapy (fourth) and Chemistry (fifth) were also top five-rated subjects in this area.

This last month saw further evidence that students are valuing their experience at the University of Leicester as it was revealed that it has risen 20 places to fifth in the accommodation category of the 2025 Uni Compare rankings. The University is also placed ninth overall, out of 100 UK universities, while nine-out-of-10 students surveyed said they’d recommend Leicester to a friend. The Uni Compare tables see students rank universities out of five for each category: accommodation, course quality, employability and student life. The combination of these four categories gives a university its overall ranking.

A review from Politics student, Jenae, said: “Leicester Uni offers a fantastic mix of courses and impactful research. The atmosphere is genuinely friendly, creating a supportive community. The faculty is both experienced and passionate, making the learning experience engaging. It's not just an academic institution; it's a vibrant community that values both knowledge and a welcoming environment.”

In the past year, the University of Leicester has also received an overall Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, making it one of a small number of institutions nationally to achieve TEF Gold alongside a top 30 REF performance, indicating outstanding performance in both teaching and research.

Professor Liz Jones, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Leicester, said: “These excellent NSS results have built on our strong showing in last year’s survey, and are testament to the hard work of academic and professional services colleagues across the University. Yet again, we’ve done particularly well in Organisation and Management, scoring in the top 10% of universities in this question area. Again, I would like to thank all my colleagues who go the extra mile to make sure our degree programmes are coherent, consistent and clearly communicated to students.

“Our result for Student Voice is a fabulous achievement, improving again on last year’s result, and demonstrating just how important our partnership with students is. Student feedback is at the heart of everything we do. From positive student-staff committees to enhancement projects in which students are empowered to improve the curriculum, we have much to be proud of in this area.

“It was also incredibly pleasing to see no fewer than eight subjects placed in the top five nationally, for Overall Positivity.

“The NSS results really do give us important insight into how our students feel about their whole university experience, and I’m delighted that Leicester students are expressing such positive views. We are proud to be a university producing world-class research that is also top 30 in NSS. This is the icing on the cake after being awarded a Gold rating in the national Teaching Excellence Framework exercise just last year.”

View the complete results for the National Student Survey 2024.

The NSS is managed by the OfS on behalf of the UK funding and regulatory bodies – the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland), the Scottish Funding Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.

• References to Overall Positivity are based on applying the method used by Times Higher Education for NSS 2023 on the NSS 2024 data