University of Hertfordshire in the top 25% nationally for student satisfaction

Published earlier this month, the NSS, run by the Office for Students (OfS), placed Herts 33rd out of 146 institutions – a 13-place rise from last year reflecting a continued upward trend in student experience and satisfaction.

This year’s results also show that overall student positivity at the University rose to 85%, a 2% increase from 2024 and above the sector average of 83.6%*. The rankings place Herts second across higher education institutions in the East of England for overall student positivity.

Herts further outperformed the sector in five of the seven themes, being particularly successful in organisation and management, where it scored 82.5% positive vs 78.4% for the sector average and ranks fifth out of all 78 post-92 universities.

Other notable results include:

• Student voice: 80.7% positive vs 77.4% sector average

• Assessment and Feedback: 83.1% positive vs 80.9% sector average

• Acting on student feedback: 75.3% vs 67.9% sector average

• Feedback helping students improve their work: 79.6% vs 75.2% sector average

• Communication of any changes to courses: 83.7% vs 79.5% sector average

Three of the University’s Schools – Hertfordshire Business School, the School of Health and Social Work (now part of the School of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences) and the School of Law and Education – achieved exceptional results, each with student positivity scores over 88%, significantly outperforming the sector average of 83.3%.

Professor Quintin McKellar CBE, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire, said:

“These are fantastic results, showing that we’ve continued to improve year on year – outperforming the sector average and maintaining our strong position and in the top quartile nationally in a highly competitive environment.

“We’ve kept well ahead of the curve and the results are a positive sign that Herts is delivering a modern, dynamic and enterprising environment for students to learn.

“I want to thank all of those who contributed to this achievement – from those delivering and supporting teaching and learning, to colleagues who helped encourage students to share their views.

“Most of all, I thank our final year students for their help and their honesty and for helping us on a continuous journey to help all those who follow in their footsteps.”

The NSS results come after the University rose two places in the 2026 Complete University Guide in June and achieved five stars in the QS Stars global university rating system in April. Last year the University had very encouraging rises in the Times Good University Guide, and the Guardian and Daily Mail university guides.

Over 357,000 final year students took part in the sector-wide NSS survey - which captures the views of final-year undergraduate students from across the UK - including 2,380 final-year undergraduates at Herts. The full results are available on the OfS website.

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