UNIVERSITY GUIDE

How universities failed students in the age of Covid

A year of closed campuses and a move to online learning have earned most universities a chorus of disapproval in the latest National Student Survey. Alastair McCall finds out what went wrong — or right — in students’ eyes

Student protests at Manchester University called for extra support during the pandemic
Student protests at Manchester University called for extra support during the pandemic
LONDON NEWS PICTURES
The Sunday Times

Universities have experienced devastating falls in student satisfaction after a year of pandemic disruption on campuses.

A Good University Guide analysis compared this year’s National Student Survey (NSS) results with those from 2020 and found that just two universities — Imperial College London and Surrey — improved their scores year-on-year.

All the rest saw their ratings fall, some by more than 100 percentage points across nine areas of assessment. There is more than the tang of salt in the air at Bournemouth, where the town’s two institutions — Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth — finished bottom and third from bottom in our analysis.

The NSS results account for two of the eight measures in our academic table — covering teaching quality and student experience