Scoring high on student satisfaction

Written by Jim Jack on September 7, 2023. Posted in News, Teaching and Learning, Uncategorized

Student satisfaction rates at University Centre Leeds (UC Leeds) and Leeds Conservatoire have once again been ranked as some of the best in the country.

UC Leeds outscored other local higher education providers – including Leeds Arts University, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Trinity University and the University of Leeds – in six of the seven categories in the 2023 National Student Survey (NSS).

Those included quality of course teaching (93%), learning opportunities (88%), academic support (92%) and assessment and feedback (just under 92%).

UC Leeds was ranked above the national average in most areas of the survey too, including on a newly introduced question about mental wellbeing support. Over 88% of its students, compared to 81.6% nationally, said they were happy with the information that was provided about such services.

Glowing feedback ‘a credit to our teams’

Dean of Higher Education at UC Leeds, Dr Sarah Marquez, said: “We are really pleased with this fantastic feedback, which is a testament to the hard work of our teaching and support teams. It is wonderful to hear that so many of our students have been pleased with the quality of our courses and instruction.

“It is particularly pleasing to see improved ratings in several areas where we were already scoring highly, including teaching and academic support. Satisfaction in learning resources, meanwhile, jumped by nine percent – from 72.5% to 81.6% – which reflects our recent investment in facilities like our fantastic new digital hub.

“Our goal is always to deliver high calibre education along with outstanding experiences, including talks from inspiring speakers and visits to outstanding workplaces, to our students.

“These wonderful survey results show how much such initiatives are valued and will spur us on to even greater things.”

Hitting the high notes

Leeds Conservatoire, meanwhile, achieved the highest scores of any UK conservatoire in two of the survey’s categories – for assessment and feedback, and organisation and management. The specialist provider of higher music and performing arts education also scored above the national average for conservatoires in all seven areas.

Those results were music to the ears of Leeds Conservatoire Principal, Professor Joe Wilson. He said: “We’re so proud of this year’s NSS results and are thankful to our staff for their continued commitment, and to our students for recognising the conservatoire with this fantastic feedback.

“Leeds Conservatoire has a national and international reputation for creativity and innovation, and for being a truly contemporary specialist teaching institution.

“Our staff and industry partners are at the cutting edge of their creative disciplines, and our students are encouraged and supported to explore their individual artistic identities.”

More than 339,000 students took part in the 2023 NSS to rate their experiences of higher education.

The Office for Students, which manages the survey, updated the format this year following a public consultation.

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Best in Leeds scores for Luminate Education Group’s higher education providers

Written by Jim Jack on July 8, 2022. Posted in News, Teaching and Learning

University Centre Leeds and Leeds Conservatoire are celebrating achieving the highest student satisfaction scores, in their respective categories, of all the higher education providers in the city.

In the newly published 2022 National Student Survey (NSS) Leeds Conservatoire achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 80%, significantly higher than the sector average of 70.79%. The 85% satisfaction rating achieved by the University Centre (UC Leeds), meanwhile, made it the highest performing institution of its kind in Leeds – and one of the highest in Yorkshire. 

Both institutions scored highly, and above the sector average, in many of the individual categories in the survey, too. In the conservatoire’s case, particular highlights were in teaching (82%), academic support (78%), learning opportunities (80%), assessment and feedback (78%), and learning community (77%).

Students also rated UC Leeds, which was registered under Luminate Education Group for the survey, very highly in specific areas. Those included: teaching (90.4%), learning opportunities (88.6%), academic support (87%), learning community (83.7%), assessment and feedback (83.5%), student voice (81.1%), and organisation and management (80.5%).

A testament to the dedication of our staff

The results delighted Janet Faulkner, Dean of Higher Education at UC Leeds, and Leeds Conservatoire Principal, Professor Joe Wilson.

Janet said: “These tremendous results are a testament to the continuing, and improving quality of our teaching and curriculum.

“Our staff are continuously looking at ways to enhance our courses and give students exceptional opportunities, so they leave here with the confidence and skills to aim high.

“Over the past year, we have welcomed a string of influential guest speakers and taken a group of learners to London for some invaluable experience at the Department for Transport. Other students have benefitted from an Erasmus+ trip to Greece, where their work in a hotel gave them an insight into the tourism, hospitality and food and drink sectors.

“Our students, as these impressive survey results indicate, clearly appreciate such efforts which is wonderful to see.”

Joe said: “We are very proud of the excellent NSS results for Leeds Conservatoire. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, and we would like to thank our students for recognising the conservatoire with this fantastic feedback.

“Our programmes are characterised by inspirational training with experts in a huge variety of specialisms, supported by bespoke workshops and masterclasses by visiting practitioners. Our facilities are industry-standard, our curriculum is designed around industry practice, and students have access to a wealth of professional partners and expert knowledge both within and outside our curriculum. 

“We value excellence and elite training in all forms of music and performance making, and so offer the broadest range of genres of any conservatoire in Europe, giving our students unrivalled opportunities for collaboration. We are the only UK conservatoire to offer degrees combining two performance/production disciplines, reflecting the increasing focus on multidisciplinary practice in the music industry and offering even greater opportunity for students to expand their creative vision.”  

Managed by the Office for Students, the NSS is one of the largest surveys of its kind and had almost 325,000 responses across the UK this year.

The survey gathers students’ opinions on the quality of their courses. That data is then used by prospective students to guide their choices, and by the education providers to shape and improve their offerings.

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