STUDENT satisfaction at King’s has plummeted in the domestic league tables, leaving the university 111th out of 123 in the country for student satisfaction.
KCL may be world-leading in the international league tables, but it’s fallen in two out of the big three domestic league tables to be released this year.
Roar! digested some of the key figures from the rankings, looking at which departments came out on top, and which leave a lot to be desired.
Satisfaction figures, based on the National Student Survey 2013, have ranged from a whopping 100% in Neuroscience to a disappointing 57% in Medicine.
Data: NSS 2013
Sarah Guthrie, Head of the King’s Neuroscience department, told Roar!: “I think the key to satisfied students is to have enthusiastic dedicated teachers, and a curriculum which is intellectually stimulating.
“Students respond to the fact that the vast majority of our staff are research-active, and that their teaching is constantly updated in the light of recent research discoveries.”
Excellence and 120 job cuts
On the King’s Health Schools restructure, in which up to 120 academics could lose their jobs to pay for KCL’s capital investments, Guthrie said: “I can only hope that we can maintain this level of excellence given the restructuring of schools that is underway.”
Data: HESA for 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13.
A spokesperson from King’s said that the drop in the Complete University Guide position was largely due to the NSS figures, which they described as “disappointing in some areas”.
They added: “We have been working closely with students, with KCLSU and our student representatives to identify and rapidly address the issues that most concern students.
Data: NSS 2013
“Initiatives which have already been implemented include the removal of fees for resit examinations; strengthening pastoral support; improving student communications; the roll-out of personalised timetables and extending the opening hours of the College’s libraries.”
They also pointed out that King’s was named as one of the ten most improved universities in Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014.
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