Canninglist | John Canning

I've just calculated the 2015 for the Canning list. The full data will be uploaded soon.

The top 10 institutions for average score are a mix of large and smaller providers, perhaps demonstrating that insitutations of all sizes can score well (or badly). Among the larger providers (minimum 20 programmes) Coventry maintains its number 1 position.

Top 10 universities for National Student Survey (2015) Minimum 10 courses

Institution	Number of courses	Mean WSSS
City College Plymouth	11	1550.1
Coventry University	51	1502.4
The University of Surrey	36	1489.7
North Lindsey College	11	1456.9
Doncaster College	14	1446
The University of Leeds	72	1432.9
The University of Keele	34	1427
Bangor University	44	1423.8
Solihull College	13	1423.4
University of Ulster	57	1421

Top 10 universities for National Student Survey (2015) Minimum 20 courses

University	Number of courses	Mean WSSS
Coventry University	51	1502.4
The University of Surrey	36	1489.7
The University of Leeds	72	1432.9
The University of Keele	34	1427
Bangor University	44	1423.8
University of Ulster	57	1421
Loughborough University	34	1419.1
Edge Hill University	29	1415
Nottingham Trent University	47	1410.8
Bath Spa University	22	1410.4

The National Student Survey (NSS) is now in its tenth year. Vice-Chancellors set targets by it, newspapers and magazines use it to create league tables and university strategies are framed around it. Expressing an off-message opinion on the NSS cost former HEA research director Lee Harvey his job.

It surprises me how little has actually been written by an NSS in peer-reviewed journals. By ‘how little’ I don’t mean little as in nothing, but relatively little considering the big part it plays in the life of the British university.

I’ve long been a critic of the NSS. What it comes to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning, the NSS is a bit like using a screwdriver to put a nail into the wall. It is possible to get a nail in into the wall using a screwdriver, but you’re better off using a hammer. If you don’t have a hammer then you might go ahead and use the screwdriver at the risk of a bent nail, broken screwdriver or injured hand.

However, perhaps I’ve been a bit mean to the NSS over these past few years. For all the emphasis on ‘overall satisfaction’, and assessment and feedback you might think that there were only three or four questions on the NSS. The NSS asks questions about course organisation, library resources and skills development as well, but we don’t hear much about these. What if we actually paid attention to some of these questions?

I took up this challenge in developing a new system of measurement for the NSS. I reasoned that if we considered all the questions and understood their relative importance we could bring about a system where each UK course at each university could have a ‘score’—in my paper I call this the Weighted Student Satisfaction Score (WSSS). However a raw score of say 1400 doesn’t tell you what they means in relation to other scores, so the scores are then normalised to a normal distribution so that an average course scores 100 (the Weighted Student Satisfaction Quotient—WSSQ). Over time it will be possible to trace changes in both absolute and relative scores. The system is fully outlined in the article and takes into account subject differences as well as providing a bonus for good response rates.

The full ‘Canning list’ (a term used by David Law in his editorial is available from my website.

Here are the top 10 best courses in the whole UK according to the 'Canning list'.

Overall rank	Institution	Subject	Type	WSSS	WSSQ
1	Hugh Baird College	Fine Art	Other undergraduate	1884.7	141.0
2	Somerset College	Drama	Other undergraduate	1877.6	140.5
3	Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education	Imaginative writing	First degree	1869.7	140.0
4	Plymouth College of Art	Cinematics and photography	Other undergraduate	1861.6	139.4
5	Petroc	Design studies	Other undergraduate	1843.1	138.2
6	University of Cumbria	Fine art	First degree	1836.8	137.7
7	Northumbria University Newcastle	Architecture	Other undergraduate	1836.0	137.7
8	Imperial College London	Geology	First degree	1833.9	137.5
9	University of Glasgow	Social policy	Other undergraduate	1828.5	137.2
10	NCG	Marketing	Other undergraduate	1817.4	136.4

A couple of subject ranking examples

Physics and Astronomy top 10.

Rank	Institution	Type	WSSS	WSSQ
1	Lancaster University	First degree	1685.1	127.4
2	Nottingham Trent University	First degree	1663.6	126.0
3	University of Birmingham	First degree	1571.6	119.7
4	University of St Andrews	First degree	1517.9	116.0
5	Keele University	First degree	1511.7	115.6
6	University of Hull	First degree	1510.9	115.6
7	University of Bath	First degree	1494.0	114.4
8	University of Sheffield	First degree	1471.3	112.9
9	University of Sussex	First degree	1456.7	111.9
10	University of Hertfordshire	First degree	1452.7	111.6

French

Rank	Institution	Type	WSSS	WSSQ
1	Coventry University	First degree	1686.9	127.5
2	Queen's University Belfast	First degree	1667.9	126.2
3	Northumbria University Newcastle	First degree	1595.6	121.3
4	University of Southampton	First degree	1595.1	121.3
5	University of Exeter	First degree	1547.5	118.1
6	University of St Andrews	First degree	1507.7	115.4
7	Newcastle University	First degree	1501.1	114.9
8	University of Leicester	First degree	1496.1	114.6
9	Edinburgh Napier University	First degree	1486.6	113.9
10	King's College London	First degree	1482.6	113.6

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John Canning

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Category Archives: Canninglist

Latest NSS 'Canning list'

Coventry maintains Number 1 position on the NSS Canning list

Slides on 'Canning list' available

The National Student Survey and the development of the 'Canning list'