NSS 2023 Results: Another great year for UCL Library

A rather long post on the NSS results, mainly due to changes that have been made to the survey by the Office for Students. The important news though, is that we have done really well again, gaining UCL some of the highest scores across all the NSS questions.

First: the changes to the Survey

Several major changes have been made to the survey in 2023. A completely new set of questions and question areas was introduced. The question relating to overall satisfaction (“Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course”) was removed as were questions relating Learning Community questions. These have been replaced with new questions on mental wellbeing services and freedom of expression. In addition to this, the response scales to the core questions were revised. Students no longer respond to statements on a five-point ‘Definitely agree > Definitely disagree’ scale, but instead on a four-point scale, which differs between questions. For example:

• Option 1: Very good
• Option 2: Good
• Option 3: Not very good
• Option 4: Not good at all

So, students earlier this year responded to 27 core questions, relating to nine aspects of their experience:

• Teaching on my course
• Learning opportunities
• Marking and assessment
• Academic support
• Organisation and management
• Learning resources
• Student voice
• Mental wellbeing services (new for 2023)
• Freedom of expressions (new for 2023)

In addition, UCL also asked students two UCL specific questions, which appeared after completing the core questionnaire:

• I would recommend UCL to others thinking of studying here
• I feel prepared for my next steps after UCL (i.e. I have a job, further study place or other activity confirmed)

UCL also included two extra, optional question banks from the Office for Students (OFS) in the survey:

• Students’ Union (Association or Guild)
• Social Opportunities

NSS 2023: Results

The NSS survey was open to final year undergraduate students from 12^th January to 30^th April 2023. In total 4,619 students responded, a response rate of 72%. In terms of headline results for the main categories, Learning Resources has once again received the highest positivity score. A result we have become used to in recent NSS surveys. And while the questions within the Learning Resources have changed very slightly in wording, this year’s 89.4 represents an improvement in positivity score of 3.2 from 2022.

Further testament to the continued hard work of Library colleagues to support students is also evidenced in the results for the library-specific question (now question 20), which again this year is the highest scoring question for the UCL results set.

Top 3 scoring questions

Question	Score, %
20. How well have the library resources (e.g. books, online services and learning spaces) supported your learning?	92.1
21. How easy is it to access subject specific resources (e.g. equipment, facilities, software) when you need them?	89.6
1. How good are teaching staff at explaining things?	88.6

Comparison with Russell Group institutions

A closer look at the results within Learning Resources show that UCL is outperforming Russell Group institutions in this category and is above the entire sector for all three of the questions. However, a Russell Group average of 90.3 and sector average of 89.1 for question 20 does mean that we must not become complacent if we hope to continue to lead the sector in terms of positivity score for ‘library resources’. But that note of warning should not detract from what is another set of excellent NSS results for the Library, which show a strong endorsement of our services from our  students.