Teaching excellence

We're dedicated to providing a stimulating and supportive learning environment that exposes our students to the latest insights and discoveries. Our passion for delivering the highest quality student experience is reflected in the results of the latest Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey, 2018.

What is the PTES?

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is a national survey which gives master's students the opportunity to give confidential feedback to their university about their experience. Circulated annually to master's students across the UK, the survey provides an opportunity for students to share their experience and identify areas that could be improved.

The survey combines feedback on a broad range of areas affecting the student experience, including teaching and learning, organisation and management, assessment and feedback, resources and services, and skills development. Loughborough University London received an aggregate score of 85% for total student satisfaction, which is 6% higher than the sector average and 4% higher than the highest performing Russell Group universities in the survey.

Teaching and Learning

Specific results regarding the teaching and learning experience on campus showed that 91% of students agree our staff are good at explaining things and 87.5% of students are happy with the support they have received during their studies.

In terms of the teaching and learning experience across the institutes, the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance received excellent results, with 100% of MSc Diplomacy, Statecraft and Foreign Policy students believing their course has been intellectually stimulating.  

In the Institute for Digital Technologies, 100% of MSc Digital Creative Media students stated that they were happy with the support they received from staff and 100% of students believe the course has enhanced their academic ability.

Organisation and Management

Five questions were asked to the students to see how organised and managed the programmes are at Loughborough University London. This includes questions on how fitted the timetable is to the student, the effectiveness of communication, and whether students were encouraged to be involved with decisions. 

Over all the programmes, 85% of students said they were given appropriate guidance and support from the start of their course.

In particular, 100% of Design and Culture MA students believe they were given the appropriate guidance and support when they started their course. 

90% of students from the Managing Innovation in Creative Organisations MSc programme believe that any changes in the course or teaching were communicated effectively. 

Assessment and Feedback

In this section of the survey, four questions were asked to students. Questions were regarding the clarity of the criteria, fairness of marking and assessment arrangements, and the usefulness of feedback on student's work. 

Over all the programmes, 82% of students agreed that the feedback from staff on their work was useful. This includes, 100% of Design and Culture MA students saying feedback was good. 

Overall from these four questions from the PTES, 93.8% of students from the Security, Peace-building and Diplomacy MSc course believed assessment and feedback were good.

As well as this, 93.8% of Sports Business and Leadership MSc students believed the criteria used in marking have been made clear in advance. 

Resources and Services

In this section, four questions were asked to see students’ thoughts and opinions on the quality, accessibility and awareness of our resources and services.

Over all the programmes, 88.5% of students have been able to access general IT resources (both physical and online) when they needed to. 

Digital Creative Media MSc, in particular, received 100% of students agreeing that the library resources were good enough. 

93% of Entrepreneurship, Finance and Innovation MSc students were aware of how to access the support services.

Skills Development

In this section, six questions were asked to see how students’ courses were developing their skills. This includes student’s confidence with independent learning, creativity and innovativeness, research skills, communication skills, and preparation for their future career.

Over all the programmes, 86% of students feel better prepared for their future career as a result of their course and 89.6% believe their course has enhanced their confidence in independent learning. 

100% of students from Design and Culture MA believed the course has made them better prepared for their future career. Likewise, 92% of students from Sports Business and Innovation MSc believed the course made them feel better prepared for their future career.

93.8% of students from Sport Business and Leadership MSc believed their research skills have been developed during this course.

95% of students from Managing Innovation in Creative Organisations MSc believed the course has developed their confidence in being innovative and creative.

What improvements have been made?

Feedback from the PTES has enabled the University to make significant improvements and changes across a number of key areas.

These improvements include:

  • Greater breadth of subject content in some discipline areas
  • Essential registration and induction activities to be held on one day from September 2018
  • New teaching structure to reduce the overlap of modules and standardise teaching times
  • Enhanced feedback and marking matrices to improve consistency
  • Greater visibility of mental health support services