National Student Survey (NSS)

How the NSS works

The NSS invites over half a million students each year to participate and is widely recognised as an important evaluation of student satisfaction. As a student, you have a powerful collective voice that will not only help to shape the future of your course and the University, but also the decisions of future students. Many prospective students who are looking to apply for university use the results of the NSS to help make their decision about what they want to study and where. It is an influential source of information, and the honest feedback of current final year undergraduate students is essential.

The NSS is a survey made up of 28 single-choice questions. You can also provide comments about your overall student experience in an open-ended question at the end. Questions vary on nine topics that relate to the course such as teaching, the organisation of the course, resources, student voice and more.

Accessing the survey is straightforward, just visit the NSS website. All you need is your 8-digit student ID number (this should follow after the @ sign e.g. @12345678) and a few personal details to confirm that you qualify for the survey. This information is not stored with your answers as the survey is anonymous.

If you’re eligible to complete the NSS this year, we will send you some reminders. Ipsos will contact you directly as well, but will stop once you complete the survey. We sent you a GDPR notice back in November 2025 with more information to your student email address.

Why you should complete the NSS

1. It’s anonymous

This voluntary survey is anonymous, and independently run by Ipsos. This means we don’t see the names of people who have completed the survey but, if enough people complete it, we will see all your comments and use those to improve the experience of students like you in the future.

2. It’s quick and easy to fill out

The NSS only takes around 10 minutes to complete. You just need your 8-digit student number and a few personal details to confirm that you qualify for the survey. This information is not stored with your answers.

3. You’ll make a real difference

Your answers ensure we know the reality of studying at the University of Salford. We use them to improve future students’ experiences – just like other final-year undergraduate students have done for you. Based on feedback we’ve received from students who have now graduated we have:

• Increased the number of support staff who provide advice and events focused on wellbeing and assessment support
• Created new student spaces to study and take a break in (check out our blog to discover these spots)
• Provided free resources and appliances in student kitchens to help tackle the cost of living
• Put in place more employability events to help you take your next steps

4. You have a chance to win an iPad

Once you complete the survey, you’ll be entered into a prize draw by Ipsos to win an iPad. Don't worry, personal details are not stored with your survey answers to ensure they stay anonymous.

5. Ipsos will stop contacting you

Independent research agency, Ipsos will contact eligible students by email, phone and text message to encourage you to take the survey. We know this can be annoying, but once you've completed your NSS, you won't be contacted by Ipsos for this purpose again! We will continue to send a small number of email reminders as we can't see who has completed the survey, but you can opt out of these at any time using the preference centre at the bottom of the email.