The importance of the National Student Survey

Undergraduate Student Experience and Engagement Manager Gemma explains the importance of the National Student Survey (NSS) and the impact it has on student experience at WBS. 

Are you a final year student? If so, this is your chance to share your experience and views. The NSS is open to finalists at UK universities every spring, and is incredibly valuable to WBS and the University of Warwick as it provides a chance for us to hear directly from students and develop our student experience.  

If you’re a final-year undergraduate student at WBS, click here to share your views now.

Survey findings allow WBS to develop our undergraduate programme further in collaboration with our students, ensuring that we enhance the student experience in a way that is relevant for today’s undergraduates. 

Here are some of the reasons why the NSS is so important and some of the key changes we’ve made based on the findings from the survey over the past few years: 

• Increased the capacity of popular elective modules and introduced new modules in emerging areas of student interest. 

• ‘Smart timetabling’ principles to timetable commonly chosen optional modules to make more convenient timetables for students. 

• Improved the modules pages on our online learning platform my.wbs for more consistency, and to provide more clarity around assessment requirements and marking criteria. 

• Specialist support from a dedicated International & Placements Team within the Undergraduate Programme Team for approximately a third of our students who undertake a placement year or year abroad. 

• Increased student representation on the Undergraduate Programme Committee, as well as School-level reviews and accreditation visits, meaning that they have the opportunity to directly share their student voice feedback. 

• Improvements to the annual Module Fair and Module Application processes, including more detailed information, advice and guidance based on feedback from SSLC and student voice. 

The NSS also raises awareness of potential improvements or what we are already doing well across Warwick and enables WBS to have more meaningful conversations around facilities, administration and opportunities across the wider Warwick community. 

The data from the survey is the richest out of all student surveys, giving WBS the most complete picture of student views. The survey asks questions about topics as varied as community, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation and management and wellbeing during a student’s time at university. 

The survey, being truly anonymous and organised by independent survey provider Ipsos Mori, means students can be completely honest about their experience. This is particularly important as the NSS data is available to prospective students, meaning they can make informed choices about where to study. 

The NSS marks an important culmination of our finalist students’ journey and true collaboration. It’s something that WBS staff, students and alumni take pride in as our year-on-year strong results (we have placed 1st among Russell Group Business Schools for the last four years) demonstrate our commitment to offering the best possible student experience – and always being open to collaborative change. 

If you’re a final-year undergraduate student at WBS, you can take part in the NSS survey now to share your views. Your feedback really matters.