Students have rated Arts University Plymouth above the national benchmark in all categories of the National Student Survey (NSS) 2023.
This year Arts University Plymouth was the highest scoring arts university in the UK in five of the seven NSS categories: teaching on my course, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, learning resources and student voice, when compared against the UK’s seven other well-respected arts universities – Arts University Bournemouth, Falmouth University, Leeds Arts University, Norwich University of the Arts, Ravensbourne University, University for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts London.
Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks, Vice-Chancellor at AUP said:
“We are delighted that our students have voted with confidence for their student experience, and we are pleased that our compelling offer has been recognised in the National Survey 2023.
Once again we sit in excellent company amongst our peers, signalling the strength of the UK’s specialist arts higher education sector. We believe that Arts University Plymouth has a major part to play in creating opportunities for creative people of all ages, and we will continue to use the student voice and the importance of an excellent student experience to guide everything that we do.”
This result builds on other recent successes, with students voting AUP the top arts university in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the NSS 2022 and the university achieving Silver in the Small or Specialist Institution category of the Whatuni Student Choice Awards in 2023 and Gold in the same category in 2022. The university is currently also ranked as a top 10 university in the Arts, Drama & Music League Table 2024 in the Complete University Guide.
AUP is now the highest scoring specialist arts university in the UK for the NSS category of Learning Resources, recognising the ease of access to world-leading facilities, equipment and subject-specific specialist resources such as Fab Lab Plymouth, Plymouth Arts Cinema, the Multimedia and Photography studios, Materials Lab (including hot glass and ceramics), Drawing Lab and Fashion and Textile studios.
Staff were delighted that 82% of AUP students completed the NSS this year, significantly above the national average of just 71.5%, demonstrating the high rate of engagement from Arts University Plymouth students despite the difficult period for students nationally preceding the survey, which measured the satisfaction of over 300,000 final year UK undergraduate students.
Some of the comments from students who completed the 2023 National Student Survey include:
“I honestly believe I picked the best arts university to go to. I went to so many open days across the UK and no one’s resources compare to Arts University Plymouth. The staff are so incredibly passionate and encouraging. There isn’t a bad word I could say about Arts University Plymouth.”
Another student said:
“I feel like being at Arts University Plymouth has definitely been the right decision in terms of teaching time, one-to-one teaching with my tutors, and how I have improved as a creative as a whole. The teaching as a whole has been superb!”
