What are students actually saying about Student support (NSS 2018–2025)?

Students are broadly positive about how support services help them navigate their course and personal circumstances, with a clear uplift among mature and part‑time cohorts. Gaps remain for disabled students and some subject areas where the tone is notably weaker.

Scope: UK NSS open‑text comments for Student support across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume: 23,254 comments; 100% sentiment‑coded.
Overall mood: 68.6% Positive, 29.7% Negative, 1.6% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 2.3:1; sentiment index 32.9).

What are students saying in this category?

The prevailing tone is supportive and appreciative: almost seven in ten comments are positive. Students most often credit staff who respond quickly and resolve issues.
Experience varies by profile. Mature students (index 39.8) and part‑time learners (36.7) are more positive than young (30.0) and full‑time (31.6) cohorts. Apprentices (n=137) are highly positive (index 55.7), albeit on a small base.
Disabled students are less positive (index 28.0) than their non‑disabled peers (35.1), pointing to uneven access or outcomes.
By broad subject area (CAH1), tone is strongest in Education and teaching (45.1) and Subjects allied to medicine (40.3). It is comparatively weaker in Law (24.1) and Medicine and dentistry (25.4).

Benchmarks by subgroup (aggregate 2018–2025)

Group	n	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Age — Young	15,880	66.9	31.5	30.0
Age — Mature	6,891	72.7	25.5	39.8
Disability — Not disabled	15,859	70.0	28.4	35.1
Disability — Disabled	6,921	65.5	32.8	28.0
Mode — Full‑time	17,144	67.8	30.6	31.6
Mode — Part‑time	5,450	70.9	27.4	36.7
Mode — Apprenticeship	137	81.8	17.5	55.7
Sex — Female	16,161	69.3	29.2	33.9
Sex — Male	6,560	67.1	30.9	30.8

Subject area spread (CAH1): top and bottom by sentiment (n ≥ 700)

Tier	Subject area (CAH1)	n	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Top	Education and teaching	700	76.6	22.4	45.1
Top	Subjects allied to medicine	2,732	73.9	24.6	40.3
Top	Design, and creative and performing arts	738	71.7	27.5	38.4
Top	Business and management	1,587	71.6	26.4	37.8
Top	Language and area studies	824	70.1	27.8	35.9
Bottom	Law	1,093	64.1	34.2	24.1
Bottom	Medicine and dentistry	829	62.8	35.9	25.4
Bottom	Computing	826	66.3	31.6	28.7
Bottom	Biological and sport sciences	857	67.2	31.3	29.7
Bottom	Historical, philosophical and religious studies	913	66.2	32.5	30.9

What this means in practice

Close the gap for disabled students

Guarantee rapid triage (e.g., next business day) and named case ownership.
Standardise accessible communications and proactive follow‑ups until resolution.
Track time‑to‑resolution and reasons for delay; publish a simple monthly summary.

Strengthen support for young and full‑time cohorts

Offer extended hours and multiple contact routes (drop‑in, phone, live chat).
Package signposting into a single “front door” with clear next steps and timeframes.
Build short onboarding refreshers at key assessment points.

Target subject‑level pain points

Co‑design support touchpoints with Law and Medicine & Dentistry schools (e.g., dedicated clinics, embedded liaison roles).
Share practices from high‑performing areas (Education, Allied to medicine) where response and follow‑through are working well.

Protect what works

Maintain quick, human responses and visible resolution. Keep apprentices’ experience strong as numbers grow.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

Track this topic’s volume and sentiment over time, with drill‑downs from provider to school and course.
Like‑for‑like comparisons across CAH subject areas and student demographics (age, disability, mode, domicile), plus cohort or site segmentation.
Export concise, anonymised summaries and tables to brief programme teams and professional services without additional analysis overhead.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

Volume: 23,254 comments; 100% sentiment coverage.
Overall mood: 68.6% Positive, 29.7% Negative, 1.6% Neutral (index 32.9).
Notable differences: Mature (+39.8) and part‑time (+36.7) above average; disabled (+28.0) below; strongest subjects include Education (+45.1) and Allied to medicine (+40.3); weaker in Law (+24.1) and Medicine & dentistry (+25.4).