Exeter students amongst happiest in UK

The University of Exeter has maintained its position in the top ten in the UK in the prestigious Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014, appearing in eighth position. It also places students at the University the most satisfied in the South West region.

Students rated their institutions in the 21 categories that matter most to them, from the quality of staff and lectures to social life and accommodation.

The close partnership working that the University enjoys with the Students’ Guild in Exeter and FXU in Cornwall no doubt contributed to the overall score.

Professor Janice Kay, Provost said: “Making the student experience as good as it can be is at the heart of everything we do at Exeter – from building the Forum in Exeter and the Exchange in Penryn to enhancing the library, investing in top quality IT systems and recruiting the very best staff. We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by this influential survey.

“In order to keep attracting the best and brightest students to our campuses in Exeter and Cornwall, we need to keep investing in both staff and facilities. Our next major project that is nearing completion is the £10.5 million redevelopment of South Cloisters at St Luke’s including the Giraffe House, a vibrant new student facility.

“I would also like to thank the students who gave up their time to participate in the survey – feedback like this is incredibly valuable to us and informs our decisions on where we need to focus our efforts.”

Approximately 14,700 full-time undergraduates took part in this year’s survey, with the numbers participating increasing year on year.

The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey is broken down into 21 attributes of universities, chosen by students as key indicators. Participants were asked to rate how their university performed in each of the areas using a seven-point scale. Each attribute was assigned a weight reflecting its importance within the overall student experience.

The greatest weight is applied to the attributes that correlated most to whether or not the respondent would recommend the university to a friend, with Exeter scoring on average 6.4 out of 7 in this category.

The rankings also ranked Falmouth University, our campus partner at Penryn, at 11, with many of their highest scores relating to areas of shared facilities on the campus, including good environment on campus, library provision and high quality facilities.