Once again, our continuous dedication and commitment to the welfare and academic achievement of our students have been appreciated by the student body. The NSS 2021 survey results have shown that the overwhelming majority of LSME students are satisfied with the entire services we provided in the 2020/21 academic year.
The overall student satisfaction of 96.36% ranks LSME among the top 25 providers in England, according to the NSS 2021 survey results. The institution has outperformed several higher education providers with a satisfaction rate of almost 20pp above the national average for England. There was an improvement in the quality of responses this year in comparison to the 2020 results irrespective of all the adversities faced by LSME and most higher education providers in the 2020/21 academic year.
In response to the publication of the results, Dr Sarita Parhi, the Principal of the College remarked that the result of the survey is another example of the accomplishments of the institution and its student community. She expressed her sincere appreciation to her staff for their commitment to student support and the provision of quality education in these difficult times. The students were also commended for their honesty and loyalty to their institution.
On this special announcement, the Chair of LSME Board of Governance, Professor Stephen McKinney states added: “This is a wonderful achievement by the LSME, especially during these very challenging times for education. This demonstrates once again the commitment of the all of the staff to the educational development and welfare of the students. This is a public recognition of the excellence of this institution.”
Conducted earlier in the year by an independent organisation, students were asked various questions about their student experience, including teaching, learning resources, assessment and feedback, learning community, student voice, and their overall satisfaction. It is encouraging to note that our student satisfaction rate for every survey question was higher than the average for English higher education providers. The response rate for this year’s survey was a staggering 99%, which is over 20pp higher than the overall sector average response rate.
Considering the hard work and commitment of our staff to enhance the learning experience of our students during the year, the survey results did not come as a surprise but rather a true reflection of our performance. To further enhance the online learning introduced in the previous year, our academic staff were trained on how they could engage students more effectively in online lessons. We also continued to improve on the learning resources for online delivery. Our term-wise Student Rep orientation programme continued to improve the awareness of the extent of the opportunities available to students via their student representation. Our Access and Participation projects also supported students in financial difficulties with bursaries and hardship funds. Academic staff have also worked hard and continuously improve on their practice as per feedback and comments provided by students. The survey results provide another opportunity to reflect on how we can continue to build on our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. We continue to look forward to future growth and development that is aligned with our existing ethos, values and culture.
