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Bishop Grosseteste University has defended its position as the UK institution with the most satisfied students, analysis has found.

The annual National Student Survey showed improvements across the vast majority of UK universities in 2025, despite issues being raised at some providers with organisation and management.

Figures show that 90.7 per cent of students at Bishop Grosseteste responded positively to the 26 questions asked by the Office for Students (OfS) of all UK providers.

The former Anglican teacher training college had the highest positivity score of all 146 UK universities included in analysis by Times Higher Education ¨C just as it did last year.

The institution, which is changing its name to?Lincoln Bishop University next month, finished top in four of the survey¡¯²õ seven topics once again ¨C teaching, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, and student voice.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David finished second overall, with a positivity score of 88.5 per cent, followed by the University of the Highlands and Islands, with 87.9 per cent.

These were the top-ranked universities in Wales and Scotland, respectively, by this metric. Northern Ireland¡¯²õ top institution, Ulster University, finished 42nd?overall, with 84.4 per cent.

The analysis includes all undergraduate students at English providers?that are registered with the OfS as universities, plus University of London constituent colleges, and selected universities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A small number of institutions were removed because of a low response rate. The overall survey results?from about 360,000 students revealed an improvement on last year.

THE¡¯²õ analysis shows that the vast majority of providers improved on their 2024 score. The biggest falls in performance were at Wrexham University, which fell by four percentage points, and Northeastern University, which dropped by 3.5 percentage points.

The OfS flagged that some institutions performed noticeably poorly on organisation and management questions. The University of St Andrews came top for this section, just as it did for academic support, but slipped from third to sixth place overall in 2025.

The University of Oxford had the highest score for learning resources but finished 116th?overall with 80.5 per cent. The University of Cambridge fared slightly better, with a score of 80.6 per cent.

The University of Sheffield was the best-ranked Russell Group member overall in eighth position, while the University of Edinburgh was the lowest, in 140th place.

Across all 24 of its universities, the mission group recorded a large increase in positivity ¨C jumping from 78.3 per cent to 81.4 per cent in one year. However, universities outside the group again performed better ¨C?scoring an average of 83.3 per cent.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com