Marjon ranked among UK’s top universities in National Student Survey

Released: 11.08.23

Plymouth Marjon University has received high scores from students in this year’s National Student Survey (NSS) once again placing Marjon in the UK’s top 10 universities for multiple categories. The NSS serves as a vital platform for capturing students' valuable perspectives regarding the calibre of their courses.  

The comprehensive feedback from students captured in the annual NSS helps potential students make decisions. It also helps universities and colleges to understand and improve the student experience and serves to provide transparency and accountability across the Higher Education (HE) sector.  

Marjon has outperformed the vast majority of HE institutions across the country in this year’s NSS, with the University coming no.2 out of 119 UK Universities* for student voice¹ and in the UK’s top ten in four other key areas: academic support, teaching on my course, learning opportunities, and assessment and feedback¹. The Marjon Students’ Union was also ranked highly, at no.8¹ in the UK. 

Professor Claire Taylor, Vice-Chancellor at Marjon, said: 

“I am immensely proud that Plymouth Marjon has secured a place among the UK's top ten universities. This achievement reflects our dedication to providing an exceptional educational experience that empowers our students, delivered by incredible staff. We will continue to strive for excellence, upholding our values and ensuring that every student's journey at Plymouth Marjon University is one of fulfilment, growth, and success.”   

Plymouth Marjon outperforms the sector on almost every question and was ranked in the top 10 universities* in the UK across 12 out of 27 questions. On questions related to teaching quality, Marjon performed exceptionally well, ranking alongside universities such as St Andrews and Oxford. It was ranked in the top 6 UK universities* for how good staff are at explaining things; for acting on student feedback; for having teaching staff who have supported students’ learning; for exploring ideas and concepts in depth, and for how often staff make the subject engaging.*   

Nine of Marjon's courses scored over 90% positivity for questions about teaching on my course, including Sport and Exercise Science at 92%, Psychotherapy and Counselling at 98% and Youth and Community Work at 94%. 

The University has scored highly in multiple surveys and awards in recent months, including no.1 in England for Social Inclusion in the 2023 Good University Guide, top 4 in the UK for Career Prospects at the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2023, and no.2 in England for Student Satisfaction in the popular Complete University Guide 2024. 

See more of Marjon’s awards, ratings and rankings here. 

 

 

 

 

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*Universities are ranked based on higher education institutions in the UK, which have the right to use the word University in their title and have degree-awarding powers. The register of providers can be downloaded from the Office for Students site, and there are currently 119 institutions meeting this criteria. 

**All themes falling in the ‘registered’ category 

¹By theme, students were asked:  

Student voice: 
To what extent do you get the right opportunities to give feedback on your course? 
To what extent are students’ opinions about the course valued by staff? 
How clear is it that students’ feedback on the course is acted on? 

Academic Support:  
How easy was it to contact teaching staff when you needed to? 
How well have teaching staff supported your learning? 

Teaching on my course: 
How good are teaching staff at explaining things? 
How often do teaching staff make the subject engaging? 
How often is the course intellectually stimulating? 
How often does your course challenge you to achieve your best work? 

Learning Opportunities: 
To what extent have you had the chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth? 
How well does your course introduce subjects and skills in a way that builds on what you have already learned? 
To what extent have you had the chance to bring together information and ideas from different topics? 
To what extent does your course have the right balance of directed and independent study? 
How well has your course developed your knowledge and skills that you think you will need for your future? 

Assessment and feedback: 
How clear were the marking criteria used to assess your work? 
How fair has the marking and assessment been on your course? 
How well have assessments allowed you to demonstrate what you have learned? 
How often have you received assessment feedback on time? 
How often does feedback help you to improve your work? 

Students’ Union: 
How well does the students’ union (association or guild) represent students’ academic interests?