University of Sunderland

Academic experience

Throughout the year we ask you to give us feedback on your academic experience. This is done through the course representation system, which includes the Staff-Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs) and Course Representatives.

We also ask you to fill in brief questionnaires at module and programme level, to help us get a detailed picture of how students are finding our courses.

Experience of the University

We're also interested in your feedback on non-academic issues. Sometimes it will be research on what you think about a particular service or facility, other times it will be a broader survey on what you think about your overall experience at Sunderland.

At the end of the academic year we hold the annual Student Experience Survey, and every two years we ask new students what they think about the University.

One of the biggest surveys we're involved in is the National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS asks final year higher education students how satisfied they are with their academic experience. This is a national survey, and all universities and further education colleges include the same questions, so that future students can make comparisons when choosing a course.

It's really important to us that as many students as possible take part in the NSS. As well as helping us see in which areas the University is doing well, and in which we need to improve, the results also contribute to our position in national league tables. These league tables help future students make comparisons between different universities when they are choosing a course.