National Student Survey 2023: Students are Highly Satisfied at Wittenborg

30.06.2023

Students Praise Safe Environment and Commitment of Teachers

The results of the National Student Survey 2023 (Nationale Studenten Enquête, NSE) are out! More than 175 Wittenborg undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in the annual survey, which is organised by Studiekeuze 123, and provided valuable insights into their experiences. These results are also used for the study information of the 75 participating universities and universities of applied sciences in NSE, like WUAS.

See the results of the NSE and more here!

Each year, Studiekeuze123 organises a National Student Survey among universities and university of applied sciences across the country to measure higher education students' satisfaction with their courses in the Netherlands. Studiekeuze123 is a partnership between the Ministry of Education, student organisations LSVb and ISO, and umbrella organisations such as the Association of Dutch Universities, the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and the Dutch Council for Training and Education (NRTO). Studiekeuze123 is fully funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Wittenborg promoted the NSE as much as possible to ensure that a representative number of students participated in this survey. The NSE does not allow participating institutions to influence their students' responses, and there are several ways to alert the organisation if participants think their institution is doing so.

From 17 January to 13 March, Wittenborg students had the opportunity to rate different aspects of their education in this survey. There were a number of questions and statements where students had the opportunity to answer this survey with a mark from one to five. One means that they do not agree with the statement or that they think their course is doing really badly on this aspect and five means that they strongly agree with the statement or that their institution is doing really well on this topic. Read more information about the questionnaire here and see here what questions are asked in the NSE.

Wittenborg's NSE 2023 Results

The results are very positive, Wittenborg scores higher than 3 on all aspects of the survey, meaning that the students surveyed are on average very satisfied with their programme. Also, none of the questions or statements scored lower than a 3 for Wittenborg. You can view the NSE Dashboard with the results of the survey among Wittenborg students here (in Dutch).

Taking a closer look at the numbers, we see even more positive results. Students say they are very satisfied with the safe atmosphere within Wittenborg. An impressive 70.9% of students say they feel safe enough to be themselves during their studies and 61% say their programme is open to feedback from students. Only 1 in 5 students surveyed are dissatisfied with the extent to which they can gain skills for professional practice and the extent to which they can interact with professional practice. Also, 64% are positive about the opportunities to broaden or deepen oneself at Wittenborg and the majority are positive to very positive about the level of their education. Wittenborg students are very dedicated, the majority of participating students are actively engaged in their study programmes alongside regular classes and assignments, and two-thirds of the students surveyed say they can reach their tutor when needed.

Apropos lecturers, the results are really positive about their performance as well. 60% of the students surveyed feel that their lecturers are very knowledgeable about professional practice and 57.4% say their lecturers are content experts. Almost 64% praise their lecturers for their commitment to their students. Most students have no problems with the way their lecturers convey information to students. Only 6% think lecturers at Wittenborg do not provide comprehensible explanations. However, if the explanations are not clear enough for students, the vast majority of students find that there is a positive atmosphere during classes to ask questions to their lecturers. Almost 80% agree with the statement that "the teachers foster an environment where questions can be asked", making this the highest-scoring statement.

Now that the National Student Survey has been completed, Studiekeuze123 will release a research accountability report describing the implementation of the survey and the decisions made. The report provides information on the technical methodologies used and the activities related to data cleansing, file processing and communication that took place during the NSE. The survey accountability report for the NSE 2023 will be available soon.

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences is very pleased with the results and especially with the fact that the majority of students surveyed are positive about the quality of education at WUAS and appreciate the safe atmosphere within the school.