Salford University has been ranked as ninth most improved centre in The Times Higher Education’s 2015 Student Experience Survey, jumping 12 places from 98 to 86.
The survey assessed 117 of the UK’s higher education institutions from the 2014/15 academic year.
And Vice Chancellor of Salford University Professor Helen Marshall told MM that the increase was much deserved, and expressed her expectation for that improvement to continue.
“Salford has always had outstanding academics, strong research and tight industrial links but we have been determined to improve our student services,” she said.
“For instance, course organisation and administration, library, catering – these things matter to students as much as the quality of their course.
“We are confident our student satisfaction will continue to rise now that we have invested £81m in superb new accommodation, around £4m in laboratories and will invest a further £4m in library facilities.
“Students come to Salford for the very strong industry connections and our strategy over the next years is to build on that advantage to enhance job prospects even further.
“I believe we will rise much further in the rankings. That is something I am personally very excited about as it will be richly deserved. Students and staff here are first class and they deserve to be recognised as such.”
More than 15,000 students contributed to the survey, for which they also choose the criteria, with Salford excelling categories including the quality of their library and for their industry connections.
This follows Salford being voted into the top 200 universities internationally, also by the Times, and named as the second most improved University in the UK’s 2015 National Student Survey last summer.
John Gill, editor for the Times Higher Education survey, said: “Increasing competition between universities and an intense focus on the student experience are still top of the agenda for the higher education sector.
“Our survey is perfectly placed to track what this means in practice, and which universities are performing well in specific areas.”
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