Clearing 2026 — live
Where students rate their experience highest
Ranked by National Student Survey scores — the only major table filled in by students rather than assembled from institutional data. Worth weighting heavily if you are choosing quickly.
What the NSS measures
The National Student Survey asks final-year undergraduates across the UK about teaching, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation, learning resources and student voice. Scores here are the percentage of students expressing overall satisfaction. Because it captures what it is actually like to study somewhere, it often diverges sharply from prestige-weighted league tables.
Understanding satisfaction scores
The NSS is an annual survey of final-year undergraduate students in the UK. It asks about satisfaction with teaching quality, assessment and feedback, academic support, organization and management, learning resources, learning community, and student voice. Results are published publicly.
High student satisfaction often indicates quality teaching, good support services, responsive administration, and a positive campus culture. Satisfied students are more likely to complete their degrees, achieve better grades, and recommend their university to others.
Smaller, specialized institutions often top satisfaction rankings as they can provide more personalized attention. However, many larger research universities also achieve high scores through quality teaching and strong student support. The specific course also significantly affects satisfaction.
The NSS uses a scale of 1-5 for each question, with 4 and 5 considered 'satisfied'. The overall satisfaction percentage represents the proportion of students who agreed or strongly agreed with positive statements about their experience. Response rates vary between institutions.
Rankings are a starting point, not the answer
League tables aggregate across an entire institution. In Clearing, what matters is the specific course, whether it has places, and whether they will take your grades. Use this list to build a shortlist, then call.