What UK Students Say About Graduation: NSS Feedback Analysis (408 Comments, 2018–2025)

Graduation attracts a small but distinctly negative set of comments. Most feedback comes from full-time and younger students, with differences by subject area and ethnicity.

Key findings

408 comments analysed across UK programmes (2018–2025)
The tone is net negative overall (−14.9), driven mainly by full-time (−14.4) and younger students (−15.8), who contribute most of the volume.
By subject area (CAH1), sentiment varies widely. Design, and creative and performing arts is notably positive (+22.1; n=26), while Law (−35.7; n=23) and Soci...

What are students saying in this category?

The tone is net negative overall (−14.9), driven mainly by full-time (−14.4) and younger students (−15.8), who contribute most of the volume.
By subject area (CAH1), sentiment varies widely. Design, and creative and performing arts is notably positive (+22.1; n=26), while Law (−35.7; n=23) and Social sciences (−24.3; n=51) are strongly negative. Subjects allied to medicine sits closer to neutral (−9.4; n=40).
Mature students are less negative than younger students (−8.3 vs −15.8). Part-time students are slightly less negative than full-time (−11.6 vs −14.4).
Ethnicity differences are evident: White students sit at −10.9 (n=254), compared with Asian −23.8 (n=58) and Mixed −34.8 (n=17). Disabled respondents are somewhat less negative than those reporting no disability (−4.8 vs −16.1).

Segment snapshot

Selected groups with at least modest volume; “Unknown/Unspecified” omitted.

Segment	N	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Age — Young	308	30.2	66.2	−15.8
Age — Mature	88	36.4	61.4	−8.3
Mode — Full-time	344	30.5	66.3	−14.4
Mode — Part-time	51	39.2	56.9	−11.6
Disability — Not disabled	328	29.9	67.1	−16.1
Disability — Disabled	68	39.7	55.9	−4.8
Ethnicity — White	254	34.6	61.8	−10.9
Ethnicity — Asian	58	24.1	72.4	−23.8
Ethnicity — Mixed	17	11.8	82.4	−34.8
Ethnicity — Black	11	27.3	72.7	−21.9
Sex — Female	281	31.0	65.1	−13.9
Sex — Male	114	32.5	65.8	−15.0

By subject area (CAH1) — largest groups

Caution: some groups are small; results can be volatile at low n.

Subject area (CAH1)	N	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Social sciences (CAH15)	51	25.5	72.5	−24.3
Business and management (CAH17)	49	28.6	69.4	−18.7
Subjects allied to medicine (CAH02)	40	32.5	62.5	−9.4
Design, and creative and performing arts (CAH25)	26	61.5	30.8	+22.1
Law (CAH16)	23	13.0	82.6	−35.7
Medicine and dentistry (CAH01)	21	23.8	71.4	−21.5

What this means in practice

Get the basics out early and in one place
- Publish a single source of truth for dates, venue, guest limits/tickets, gowning, photography, costs and deadlines; update with a simple “what changed” log.
- Target comms to full-time and younger cohorts (the largest and most negative groups).
Plan for inclusive, predictable delivery
- Stress-test accessibility (seating, step-free routes, assistive support, quiet spaces) and name pronunciation capture/verification.
- Offer live stream/overflow options and clear refund policies for late changes.
Manage demand and expectations
- Use clear ticket policies (allocation + waiting list) and transparent cut-offs; provide status updates if demand outstrips capacity.
Local ownership where sentiment is weakest
- Assign a school-level lead in areas showing stronger negativity (e.g., Law, Social sciences) to run a brief “ceremony readiness” checklist and close gaps.
Service recovery on the day
- Stand up an issues desk with rapid triage, on-the-spot fixes (e.g., reprints, seating moves), and post-event follow-up within a published timeframe.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

See Graduation feedback and sentiment over time, with drill-downs by subject area (CAH), age, mode, disability, ethnicity and sex. Segment-level views surface where tone differs and where to intervene.
Produce concise, anonymised summaries for programme and operations teams. Benchmark like-for-like across CAH groupings and demographic segments, explore cohort/site differences, and export briefings for rapid action.

How to use this data

This page presents sector-level student feedback analysis for the Graduation category (Others), with demographic and subject-area benchmarks you can reference directly in institutional documents.

Use this for

Annual Programme Review (APR) — reference the segment benchmarks to contextualise your programme's feedback patterns against the sector.
TEF and quality enhancement — cite the demographic breakdowns and subject-area sentiment as evidence of awareness of differential student experience.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) — use the ethnicity, disability and age segment data to evidence where feedback experience differs by student group.
Staff-Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs) — share the key findings and subject-area table as discussion starters with student representatives.
Action planning — use the "What this means in practice" recommendations as a starting point for targeted interventions.

Recommended next steps

Quantify: how often does this theme appear (and where)?
Segment: by discipline (CAH/HECoS), level, mode, and cohort where appropriate.
Benchmark: compare like-for-like to avoid cohort-mix artefacts.
Act: define 1–3 changes, then track whether the theme shifts next cycle.