The National Student Survey 2025

What is the NSS?

The NSS is the largest UK wide annual survey aimed at final year undergraduates in the UK. The survey provides you with an opportunity to give your honest opinions on what you liked about your course at York St John as well as things that you feel could have been improved. The survey is administered by Ipsos MORI, an independent market research agency on behalf of the UK Higher Education funding and regulatory bodies, so your responses remain anonymous to your university or college at all times.

You will be asked 28 single choice questions relating to various aspects of your course such as:

• Teaching
• Feedback and assessment
• Learning resources

You will also be given the opportunity to provide comments on your overall student experience at your university/college. You may also be asked some additional optional questions specific to your course and your university or college.

Why should I take part?

• The NSS provides you with the opportunity to provide honest feedback on your student experience.
• Your opinions will be used to improve the student experience at York St John University.
• The feedback you submit is taken very seriously and informs the quality assurance system with regards to teaching quality.
• Results are published and used by prospective students, their families and advisors to make decisions on what and where to study through course comparison websites like Discover Uni.

More information about the NSS is available on the Office for Students website.

To encourage you to complete the survey, York St John University is offering the following prizes to students who enter the online prize draw before midnight on Wednesday 30 April 2025:

• 1st prize - £100 voucher to spend in York shops or £100 Graduation Attire voucher or £100 charitable donation (charity chosen by prize winner).
• 2nd prize - £50 voucher to spend in York shops or £50 Graduation Attire voucher or £50 charitable donation (charity chosen by prize winner).
• 3rd prize – £25 voucher to spend in York shops or £25 Graduation Attire voucher or £25 charitable donation (charity chosen by prize winner).

Winners will be notified by email by the end of May 2025.

What happens with the results?

The NSS results are published to help prospective students, their families and advisors make informed decisions of where and what to study. This is available on Discover Uni.

Universities, colleges and supporting Student Unions also use the data to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses and bring about change to improve the experience for future generations of students.

Inappropriate influence

A student guide on inappropriate influence sets out what the NSS is and how it is promoted by providers. The guide details what may constitute inappropriate influence and the types of promotion universities and colleges are, or are not, allowed to undertake. It provides details on the help and support available to you - if you feel you are being or have been influenced in how to respond to the survey, along with the process in place to investigate allegations of inappropriate influence and what happens in case of a breach of guidance.

What is inappropriate influence?

Sexual Misconduct Survey

Please note that once you have completed the NSS this year, you will be invited to complete an additional survey called the 'Sexual Misconduct Survey' or SMS. This survey comes from the Office for Students, is unrelated to the NSS, and you can opt out. Whether or not you respond to the SMS, your NSS responses will still be received and acted on by York St John University.

As a University community, we take sexual misconduct extremely seriously, and we have a range of support services available to anyone affected by issues relating to sexual misconduct.

We offer:

• A self-referral form to access wellbeing support or book a Welfare Adviser appointment.
• Wellbeing drop-ins on our York campus, from 1.00pm to 3.30pm during term time.
• A 24 / 7 / 365 support service from Spectrum Life.
• Information about sources of immediate, emergency support.
• Our Report and Support service, to report sexual misconduct either anonymously or with contact details.

Survey Privacy Notice

Our privacy notice sets out how we collect, use, store and share your data during student surveys.

Survey Privacy Notice