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The specialist college that trains teachers for Catholic schools
has some of the happiest students.
Almost every final year student at St Mary's University College
said they were satisfied with the quality of their course.
The National Student Survey (NSS) found 93 per cent at St Mary's
enjoyed their overall university experience - the third highest
rating of any institution.
The findings published by the Higher Education Funding Council
for England were based on answers from students at 154 universities
and 99 further education colleges across the UK.
Students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School were the happiest,
with a satisfaction rate of 95 per cent, followed by Cambridge
University with 94.
Both Queen's University Belfast and Stranmillis University College
had ratings of 83 while the University of Ulster was 82.
St Mary's, on Falls Road in Belfast, has been training classroom
staff for 110 years. In recent years has extended its provision
to include non-teaching degree courses in Liberal Arts.
Principal Professor Peter Finn said the college's exceptional
outcome in the survey was a tribute to the way its trustees, governors,
staff and students were so well engaged with the college mission.
"Our purpose is to make a distinctive contribution of service
and excellence, in the Catholic tradition, to higher education
in Northern Ireland and we have been doing that for 110 years
at the Falls Road campus," Prof Finn said.
"The college's distinctiveness is manifest in many ways:
institutional autonomy, a specialisation in teacher education
and the Liberal Arts; an ethos and identity which emphasises excellence
and pastoral care; a mutually beneficial engagement with the local
community; academic integration with Queen's University and a
high level of commitment to international student mobility.
"To be in the same league as Cambridge and Oxford in terms
of student satisfaction clearly enhances our attractiveness for
students."
St Mary’s is a member of the London based higher education
representative organisation GuildHE.
Chief executive Andy Westwood said he was pleased that so many
GuildHE institutions continued to see improvements in overall
student satisfaction.
"Small institutions like St Mary's University College Belfast
and Harper Adams University College are among the highest-scoring
institutions, with consumer satisfaction ratings that would be
the envy of the commercial sector," he said.
"This shows that students value education on a human scale,
and that smaller and teaching-focused institutions, which have
always had student needs at the heart of their mission, provide
an excellent student experience in a diverse sector."
The Open University also scored highly with a rating of 93 per
cent.
Of the respondents, 94 per cent said their course was intellectually
stimulating, 92 per cent received detailed comments on work and
83 per cent felt that feedback helped clarify elements they did
not understand.
Director of The Open University in Ireland, John D'Arcy said
he was delighted that students responded so positively to OU's
flexible and high quality approach to higher education.
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