Published: 8/01/2026
What is the National Student Survey (NSS)?
Nearly half a million students across the UK are invited to take part in the National Student Survey (NSS) every year.
The NSS is an opportunity for final year students to give honest feedback about what it has been like to study on your course at your university or college. It is published every year and is a rich and influential source of information about higher education. The survey is a key component of the quality assurance and wider regulatory landscape in UK higher education.
The survey is run by the Office for Students (OfS) from 8 January - 30 April 2026.
Students have a powerful collective voice that will help shape the future of courses and universities / colleges for current and prospective students.
The survey is completed by final-year students at:
Who benefits from the NSS?
Feedback from the NSS provides universities or colleges with a picture of what the learning experience has been like for current final year student. Universities and colleges and student unions (associations or guilds) look at the anonymised NSS data to understand what they do best and what needs to change. Students’ opinions can be used to help make changes that will improve the learning experience. More widely, the NSS provides important information for the four UK higher education regulatory and funding bodies – the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (Medr), the Department for Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
NSS results are also publicly available on the Discover Uni undergraduate course search. Prospective students considering higher education in the UK can find out what students thought about any course, to help them decide what to study and where.
Universities and colleges also use the results to improve the student learning experience and the data is published on the OfS website.
Confidentiality
The NSS is commissioned by the Office for Students (OfS), on behalf of the UK funding and regulatory bodies – the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (Medr), the Department for Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
The NSS is undertaken independently by Ipsos. The survey respects the privacy of the students taking part, and as such, individual responses are confidential. Please refer to the FAQs’ ‘Type of questions asked’ section for guidance on preserving your anonymity and that of others in the open-text comments.
For more information, as well as help with specific queries, please see the NSS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
The quality of healthcare education is really important to us and the future of NHS Wales. HEIW relies on NSS results to evaluate the programmes we commission, identify where improvements are needed and ensure students receive the highest standard of training. With student input, the NSS allows us to hear your voice.
For further information please contact HEIW.WalesHealthStudentForum@wales.nhs.uk