The National Student Survey (NSS) is an anonymous voluntary survey for undergraduate students in their final year or equivalent. The NSS allows you to voice your own opinion and give honest feedback about the quality of your course and university. It’s run by Ipsos, an independent market research company, and this year the survey is open from 8 January to Tuesday 30 April 2024.
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How does the NSS work?
The NSS invites over half a million students each year to participate voluntarily and is widely recognised as an important evaluation of student satisfaction. This measure of student satisfaction will also reflect on the decision of prospective students who are looking to apply for university, as the responses from the survey will help shape their decision about what they want to study and where. It is an influential source of information and, as a student, you have a powerful collective voice that will help shape the future of your course and the University.
The NSS is a survey complied of 28 single-choice questions. You can also provide comments about your overall student experience in an open-ended question. Questions vary on the nine topics that relate to the course such as teaching, the organisation of the course, resources, student voice and more.
Accessing the survey to complete it is straightforward and trouble-free through the NSS website. All you will need to fill out the NSS is your 8-digit student ID number (this should follow after the @ sign e.g. @12345678) and a few personal details to confirm that you qualify for the survey. This information is not stored with your answers as the survey is anonymous.
If you’re eligible to complete the NSS this year, we will send you some reminders. Ipsos will be contacting you directly as well. We sent you a GDPR notice back in December 2023 to your student email.
Why you should complete the NSS
1. It’s anonymous
This voluntary survey is anonymous, and independently run by Ipsos. This means we don’t see the names of people who have completed the survey but, if enough people complete it, we will see all your comments and use those to improve the experience of students like you in the future.
2. It’s easy to fill out
It takes around 10 minutes to complete. You just need your 8-digit student number and a few personal details to confirm that you qualify for the survey. This information is not stored with your answers.
3. You’ll make a real difference
Your answers ensure we know the reality of studying at Salford. We use them to improve future students’ experiences – just like other final-year undergraduate students have done for you. Based on feedback we’ve received from students who have now graduated we have:
- new student support events focused on wellbeing and assessment support
- new student spaces (check out our blog to discover these spots)
- improved wellbeing services
- added more employability events
4. You have a chance to win an iPad
Once you complete the survey, you’ll be entered into a prize draw by Ipsos to win an iPad. This information isn’t stored with your answers.
