Student Experience Survey 2017: best UK universities for academic experience

View the overall results of the 2017 Student Experience Survey

One of the first things that a prospective student will consider is the academic experience of a university. After all, a primary aim of most students is to come out of university feeling more educated than when they went in.

Participants in the 2017 Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey were asked to provide a rating between “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree” on whether their university has: 

• High-quality staff / lectures
• Helpful / interested staff
• Well-structured courses
• Good personal relationship with teaching staff
• Tuition in small groups
• Fair workload

These responses were then combined to give a table that reveals the top universities for “academic experience”. University of Oxford coming in second. 

Alannah Burns, a second-year philosophy and German student at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, says that although the workload at the university can be daunting at first, it becomes manageable over time as students adjust. She says that tutorials with lecturers help her to understand her work better and that the support from the university is excellent. You can read more of her thoughts here.

See the full academic experience results table below.

Rank	University name	Academic experience composite
1	Harper Adams University	85.9
2	University of Oxford	84.9
3	University of St Andrews	83.1
4	Keele University	83.0
5	Bangor University	82.8
6	University of Cambridge	82.5
7	Falmouth University	82.0
8	Royal Veterinary College	81.9
9	University of Chester	81.9
10	Norwich University of the Arts	81.7
11	Robert Gordon University	81.4
12	Newman  University	81.0
13	York St John University	80.7
14	University Campus Suffolk	80.6
15	University of Derby	80.5
16	University of York	80.5
17	University of Surrey	80.4
18	Soas, University of London	80.4
19	Queen’s University Belfast	80.3
20	Aberystwyth University	80.2
21	University of Wales Trinity Saint David	80.2
22	Liverpool Hope University	79.8
23	Coventry University	79.8
24	University of Gloucestershire	79.8
25	Loughborough University	79.6
26	University of East Anglia (UEA)	79.6
27	University of Worcester	79.5
28	Newcastle University	79.4
29	Edge Hill University	79.4
30	Ulster University	79.3
31	Swansea University	79.3
32	Heriot-Watt University	79.3
33	University of Stirling	79.2
34	University of Birmingham	79.0
35	St George’s, University of London	78.9
36	University of Portsmouth	78.8
37	Durham University	78.8
38	University of Aberdeen	78.7
39	University of Sheffield	78.7
40	University of Cumbria	78.6
41	University of Manchester	78.6
42	University of Salford	78.6
43	Lancaster University	78.6
44	University of Bristol	78.5
45	Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh	78.5
46	University of Leicester	78.2
47	University of Dundee	77.8
48	University of Winchester	77.8
49	University of Nottingham	77.8
50	Trent University	77.6
51	University of Leeds	77.5
52	University of Bath	77.3
53	University of Glasgow	77.1
54	University of Exeter	76.8
55	University of Warwick	76.7
56	Manchester Metropolitan University	76.6
57	Cardiff Metropolitan University	76.6
58	Cardiff University	76.5
59	University of Reading	76.5
60	Oxford Brookes University	76.5
61	Royal Holloway, University of London	76.5
62	Goldsmiths, University of London	76.4
63	Teesside University	76.2
64	University of Wolverhampton	76.1
65	University of Central Lancashire	76.1
66	University of Huddersfield	75.9
67	Queen Mary University of London	75.8
68	Liverpool John Moores University	75.8
69	Imperial College London	75.8
70	University of Strathclyde	75.7
71	University of Sussex	75.7
72	University of Lincoln	75.6
73	Edinburgh Napier University	75.6
74	University of Hull	75.5
75	King’s College London	75.3
76	Sheffield Hallam University	75.3
77	Northumbria University	75.3
78	University of Southampton	75.2
79	University of Liverpool	75.2
80	University of the West of Scotland	75.2
81	University of Greenwich	75.1
82	Anglia Ruskin University	75.1
83	Aston University	75.1
84	De Montfort University	75.0
85	University of Kent	75.0
86	Bucks New University	74.9
87	University of Bedfordshire	74.8
88	University of the West of England	74.8
89	University of Edinburgh	74.7
90	Arts University Bournemouth	74.4
91	Canterbury Christ Church University	74.4
92	University of Essex	74.4
93	Plymouth University	74.3
94	University of East London	74.1
95	University for the Creative Arts	74.0
96	Leeds Beckett University	73.9
97	Bath Spa University	73.9
98	Staffordshire University	73.8
99	Southampton Solent University	73.6
100	Bournemouth University	73.6
101	University College London (UCL)	73.5
102	University of Bradford	73.5
103	University of South Wales	73.4
104	Middlesex University	72.8
105	University of Roehampton	72.6
106	Abertay University	72.5
107	University of Brighton	72.5
108	Brunel University London	72.2
109	City, University of London	72.1
110	Glasgow Caledonian University	71.8
111	University of Sunderland	71.8
112	University of West London	71.7
113	Birmingham City University	71.3
114	University of the Arts London	71.3
115	The Open University	71.2
116	University of Northampton	71.1
117	University of Hertfordshire	70.8
118	University of Westminster	70.5
119	Kingston University	70.3
120	London Metropolitan University	69.6
121	London South Bank University	66.8
122	London School of Economics and Political Science	65.3

Read more:

THE Student Experience Survey 2017 overall results
Student Experience Survey 2017: hear from students at the top institutions