Academics are taking too long to return work to students, and when they do their comments are not helpful, according to the findings from the latest student satisfaction survey.

While most of it made good reading for Britain’s universities, students’ ratings for the quality of feedback continued to lag.

Two statements: “feedback on my work has been prompt” and “feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand” actually saw their satisfaction ratings fall year on year, both from 53% to 51% in England, with the pattern repeated in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Last week’s publication of the third set of annual results from the National Student Survey (NSS) – incorporated in our league table – was the biggest yet, with 177,000 final-year students contributing to its findings.

The survey now plays a big part in The Sunday Times university league table. With just six Scottish institutions yet to come into the fold (and awarded a mean score therefore in our table), its influence accounts for much of the movement in overall rankings.

The University of the Arts London drops 13 places this year, for example, off the back of the worst set of student scores for satisfaction in the UK, while Leeds Met and Middlesex are down 15 and 22 places respectively.

Although it was denied at the launch of the 2007 survey, it does appear that small, campus-based institutions tend to flourish, while larger inner-city ones struggle. Buckingham, Loughborough, St Andrews and Exeter make the top 10, and Arts London, Westminster, Leeds Met and City the bottom 10.

The survey of 22 questions is meant to be about academic issues – such as teaching quality, course organisation and personal development. However, it is clear that broader lifestyle issues are heavily influencing the scores.

We are particularly confident of this as our analysis of the survey results assesses all degree students’ responses to all 22 questions across all subjects. Beware the university websites that claim to be top for satisfaction. The claim can be based on the answer to just one question. With so much data garnered, it is quite possible for institutions to cut it to suit.

The single question seeking a score for “overall satisfaction” is topped by the Open University with 95%. Our overall satisfaction score puts Buckingham top with 88.2%. Of course, Buckingham had worked this out itself, so the two institutions could each claim to have the most satisfied students. If in doubt, visit www. hefce.ac.uk/learning/nss/data/2007.

Trends are emerging. The average score for each of the seven satisfaction sections of the survey is up by between 1% and 2% in each case. But there is also polarisation of opinion.

Last year the highest and lowest subject scores were both recorded by lawyers – 86.7% at King’s College London and 49.5% at Leeds Met; while this year the gap between top and bottom ranged from 94.9% (sports science at Exeter) to 36.2% (media studies at Cumbria, formerly St Martin’s College). There is no uniform level of satisfaction within institutions. Exeter and Cumbria might be poles apart for sports science and media studies, but Cumbria’s creative arts students (76%) are significantly happier than Exeter’s medics (68.1%).

So, make the NSS work for you. It contains huge amounts of subject by subject detail. Use it. The universities will, and courses failing their students will be made to improve.

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