Student life

View the overall results of the 2017 Student Experience Survey

University is not solely about lectures and seminars. A big part of the university experience is determined by the social life a student leads through nights out and joining in extracurricular activities and societies. 

Harper Adams University takes the top spot in Times Higher Education's Student Experience Survey results for 2017, in only its second year of being eligible for the survey. 

The agricultural institution is the first specialist university to top the poll. Last year’s number one, Loughborough University, has slipped down to second place.

View the overall results of the 2017 Student Experience Survey

A well-rounded university experience would not be possible without good facilities. Whether these are sports facilities, the bar and shops on campus or the library facilities, students assess these when looking for prospective universities.

View the overall results of the 2017 Student Experience Survey

More and more students are coming forward and opening up about feelings of stress and anxiety. In fact, research has found that one in eight university students experiences a mental health condition – so it is important that universities provide the support that students need during their time there.

The rankings for the Times Higher Education’s Student Experience Survey (SES) are now in their 10th annual release. This year, as with all other years of the survey, the research has been conducted by YouthSight.

Here we reveal the answers to some of the key methodological questions.

What are the questions behind the SES?

Since the introduction of fees, the expectations of students and parents have never been higher when it comes to learning resources. A draughty building, unimproved since its opening in the 1960s, and lacking modern texts and wi-fi, won’t be tolerated, and the message has got through to universities.

View the overall results of the 2017 Student Experience Survey

The University of Sheffield is rated second in the 2017 Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey when it comes to “societal experience” for st

It’s no secret that the quality of accommodation provided to undergraduates is extremely important to their university experience. Yet of all the responses to the Student Experience Survey, satisfaction with accommodation has consistently been ranked poorly. This year, the average rating for the accommodation composite was 5.2 out of 7, the lowest in all the categories.

Since the election last July of the hard-Left Malia Bouattia as president of the National Union of Students, the body, which claims to represent 7 million students, has been riven by dissent.

Dissatisfaction with some of Bouattia’s flagship policies and accusations of anti-Semitism have resulted in fellow NUS executive members “plotting” to oust her from her post. Meanwhile, a number of individual students’ unions have sought to disaffiliate from the national organisation.

It doesn’t take long for visitors to Harper Adams University to notice the relaxed, down-to-earth vibe on campus. Whether it is the students’ union president padding around his office in bright red socks, the group of welly-clad young women taking a dog for a walk or seeing the warm and welcoming Amanda Price at the student services centre, it soon becomes clear that this is an institution apart.