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Overview

  1. The student satisfaction survey for 2023-24 was carried out over an eight-week period between 4 March and 26 April 2024.

  2. In total nine out of 10 full-time students were satisfied with their college experience (92.2%) – 94.4% and 88.2% of full-time FE and HE students respectively.

  3. Satisfaction rates were higher for part-time students at 95.9% for FE and 89.2% for HE.

  4. Part time satisfaction levels increased in 2023-24 for FE +0.2% but decreased for HE -2.5%. However, FE full-time decreased -0.2% and HE full-time decreased 0.9%.

  5. 94,141 full-time and part-time college students were surveyed, with the following response rates:

  • 56,423 full-time students of which 55.3% responded a decrease of 0.7% from previous year.
  • 37,718 part-time students of which 33.9% responded an increase of 8.4% from previous year.

Full-time Further Education students

  1. Overall, 78% of all full-time FE student enrolments starting in the academic year 2023-24 were surveyed during this period from 26 colleges. The other 22% of FE full-time students will have completed their studies prior to the survey period or withdrawn.

  2. Response rates remain variable at a college level ranging from 24.6% to 79.7%. At a sector level, the response rate was 57.1% (19,997 students), a decrease of 2.0 percentage points (pp) from 2022-23.

  3. Table 1 shows the overall satisfaction for the 18,887 full-time FE students at Scotland’s colleges responding to the statement: ‘Overall, I am satisfied with my college experience’.

Table 1: Full-time FE students’ satisfaction with their overall college experience 2023-24

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Satisfied
8,324 10,563 884 226 18,887
41.6% 52.8% 4.4% 1.1% 94.4%

  1. Although we have published the results for all colleges, six of the 26 colleges with full-time FE students had response rates below 40%. Care should therefore be taken when comparing the results of colleges.

  2. Table 2 shows that the overall satisfaction result in 2023-24 has decreased by 0.2 pp from the 2022-23 years figure, with over nine out of 10 full-time FE students satisfied with their college experience (94.4%).

Table 2: Full-time FE students satisfaction trend

Academic year Proportion Satisfied
2018-19 93.0%
2020-21* 88.6%
2021-22 92.7%
2022-23 94.6%
2023-24 94.4%
*As a result of the COVID pandemic and a national lockdown starting in the March 2020, the SSES did not take place in the academic year 2019-20. In the 2020-21 academic year teaching was severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.
  1. The survey includes 13 statements for each student group. Table 3 shows the results to each statement for full-time FE students.

Table 3: Summary of student satisfaction results for full-time FE students at colleges 2023-24

Survey Statement Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Statement Response Total Strongly agree and agree Proportion Satisfied
1. Overall, I am satisfied with my college experience. 8,324 10,563 884 226 19,997 18,887 94.4%
2. Staff regularly discuss my progress with me. 7,401 10,401 1,826 266 19,894 17,802 89.5%
3. Staff encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. 10,090 9,190 504 166 19,950 19,280 96.6%
4. I am able to influence learning on my course. 6,717 11,426 1,403 233 19,779 18,143 91.7%
5. I receive useful feedback which informs my future learning. 8,148 10,169 1,331 227 19,875 18,317 92.2%
6. The way I'm taught helps me learn. 7,502 10,477 1,497 387 19,863 17,979 90.5%
7. My time at college has helped me develop knowledge and skills for the workplace. 8,938 9,651 1,035 278 19,902 18,589 93.4%
8. I believe student suggestions are taken seriously. 6,266 10,723 2,213 506 19,708 16,989 86.2%
9. I believe all students at the college are treated equally and fairly by staff. 8,269 9,353 1,683 546 19,851 17,622 88.8%
10. Any change in my course or teaching has been communicated well. 7,281 10,048 1,939 555 19,823 17,329 87.4%
11. The online learning materials for my course have helped me learn. 7,075 10,469 1,819 456 19,819 17,544 88.5%
12. I feel that I am part of the college community. 6,724 10,704 1,832 463 19,723 17,428 88.4%
13. The college Students' Association influences change for the better. 4,470 8,504 917 292 14,183 12,974 91.5%

Full-time Higher Education students

  1. Overall, 72% of all full-time HE student enrolments starting in the 2023-24 academic year were surveyed during the survey period. The other 28% of HE full-time students will have completed their studies prior to the survey period or withdrawn.

  2. The Highlands and Islands partner colleges and SRUC report their HE students within the NSS University statistics. As a result, only 16 colleges are included within the SSES HE results.

  3. Sector response rates for full-time HE students are 52.3% (11,198 students) in 2023-24, with rates at a college level ranging from 26.4% to 85.7%. This represents an increase of 3.5 pp from 2022-23.

  4. Table 4 shows the overall satisfaction for the 11,198 full-time HE students at Scotland’s colleges responding to the statement ‘overall, I am satisfied with my college experience’.

Table 4: Full-time HE students’ satisfaction with their overall college experience 2023-24

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Satisfied
3,926 5,947 1,046 279 9,873
35.1% 53.1% 9.3% 2.5% 88.2%

  1. Although we have published the results for all colleges, three of the 16 colleges with full-time HE students had response rates below 40%. Care should therefore be taken when comparing the results of colleges. Response rates and satisfaction rates for full-time students at individual colleges are shown in Appendix A.

  2. Table 5 shows the results of HE satisfaction compared to previous years. Overall satisfaction in 2023-24 has decreased by 0.9 pp from the 2022-23 years figure, with nearly nine out of 10 full-time HE students satisfied with their college experience (88.2%).

Table 5: Full-time HE student satisfaction trend

Academic year Proportion Satisfied
2018-19 86.8%
2020-21* 80.3%
2021-22 85.7%
2022-23 89.1%
2023-24 88.2%
*As a result of the COVID pandemic and a national lockdown starting in the March 2020, the SSES did not take place in the academic year 2019-20. In the 2020-21 academic year teaching was severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.
  1. Table 6 shows the results to each of the 13 satisfaction statements for full-time HE students.

Table 6: Summary of student satisfaction results for full-time HE students at colleges 2023-24

Survey Statement Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Statement Response Total Strongly agree and agree Proportion Satisfied
1. Overall, I am satisfied with my college experience. 3,926 5,947 1,046 279 11,198 9,873 88.2%
2. Staff regularly discuss my progress with me. 3,774 5,574 1,572 274 11,194 9,348 83.5%
3. Staff encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. 6,098 4,703 288 134 11,223 10,801 96.2%
4. I am able to influence learning on my course. 3,320 6,085 1,408 263 11,076 9,405 84.9%
5. I receive useful feedback which informs my future learning. 4,335 5,490 1,073 282 11,180 9,825 87.9%
6. The way I'm taught helps me learn. 3,490 5,783 1,456 389 11,118 9,273 83.4%
7. My time at college has helped me develop knowledge and skills for the workplace. 4,825 5,141 938 253 11,157 9,966 89.3%
8. I believe student suggestions are taken seriously. 3,080 5,517 1,834 575 11,006 8,597 78.1%
9. I believe all students at the college are treated equally and fairly by staff. 4,868 4,808 1,054 406 11,136 9,676 86.9%
10. Any change in my course or teaching has been communicated well. 3,558 5,180 1,720 691 11,149 8,738 78.4%
11. The online learning materials for my course have helped me learn. 4,210 5,549 1,072 321 11,152 9,759 87.5%
12. I feel that I am part of the college community. 3,115 5,657 1,739 536 11,047 8,772 79.4%
13. The college Students' Association influences change for the better. 1,948 4,359 1,073 390 7,770 6,307 81.2%
  1. The results for the full-time HE students across nearly all statements, including overall satisfaction, were less positive than for the full-time FE students. HE students are encouraged to be more independent in their learning which may explain some of the variances across the two groups. However, there is a need to better understand these differences.

Comparison of full-time and part-time satisfaction rates

  1. Table 7 below allows for the comparison of satisfaction rates for both full-time and part-time FE and HE students at colleges.

Table 7: Student satisfaction comparisons for full-time and part-time FE and HE students 2023-24

Survey Statement FE Full-time FE Part-time HE Full-time HE Part-time
1. Overall, I am satisfied with my college experience. 94.4% 95.9% 88.2% 89.2%
2. Staff regularly discuss my progress with me. 89.5% 91.3% 83.5% 84.7%
3. Staff encourage students to take responsibility for their learning. 96.6% 97.1% 96.2% 96.8%
4. I am able to influence learning on my course. 91.7% 93.7% 84.9% 86.2%
5. I receive useful feedback which informs my future learning. 92.2% 93.6% 87.9% 87.6%
6. The way I'm taught helps me learn. 90.5% 93.1% 83.4% 86.1%
7. My time at college has helped me develop knowledge and skills for the workplace. 93.4% 93.9% 89.3% 89.4%
8. I believe student suggestions are taken seriously. 86.2% 90.9% 78.1% 84.3%
9. I believe all students at the college are treated equally and fairly by staff. 88.8% 93.8% 86.9% 92.7%
10. Any change in my course or teaching has been communicated well. 87.4% 91.7% 78.4% 82.4%
11. The online learning materials for my course have helped me learn. 88.5% 88.5% 87.5% 90.7%
12. I feel that I am part of the college community. 88.4% 88.3% 79.4% 77.1%
13. The college Students' Association influences change for the better. 91.5% 93.4% 81.2% 87.6%

  1. The satisfaction rates for FE and HE part-time students is higher than for full-time students for all survey statements apart for at HE level for statements ‘I feel that I am part of the college community’ and ‘I receive useful feedback which informs my future learning’.

  2. Like previous years the highest level of satisfaction for full-time and part-time FE and HE students is given for the statement ‘staff encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning’.

  3. When looking at satisfaction rates across level and mode of study, students are generally less satisfied when asked if they feel ‘part of the college community’. The proportion of students who did feel part of the college community, however, was still relatively high, particularly for FE students where seven in eight students agreed that they felt part of the college community. Across all modes and levels of study, proportions of students who did feel part of the college community increased compared to 2020-211.

  1. Response rates for part-time students are lower than for full-time students at both FE and HE levels.
  • FE part-time 34.0% compared to 57.1% for FE full-time.
  • HE part-time 33.6% compared to 52.3% for HE full-time.
  1. Over nine out of 10 full-time and part-time student respondents were satisfied with their college experience, 92.2% and 95.0% respectively.