The University participates in a number of student experience surveys each year that gather student views on their academic and non-academic experience at the University of Aberdeen.
This feedback is extremely valuable and helps us to shape positive change based on student feedback and contributes to the University’s position in national league tables. To maximise participation in these national and institutional surveys, we will not promote surveys that have not been approved through the Feedback Working Group.
- NSS
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The NSS is an annual survey of final year undergraduates in the UK. It is a nationally recognised independent survey, inviting students to give their opinions about their course experience.
Open dates for 2025 will be publicised nearer the time.
- Undergraduate Experience Survey (UES)
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We’re keen to make sure undergraduate students have the best possible experience while studying at the University of Aberdeen. To do that we need to know what you think we are doing well and what we can do better. If you’re thinking about taking part this year, these are the answers to some of the questions students often ask:
What is it?
The Undergraduate Experience Survey is a survey conducted by the University asking you about your academic experience. The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete.
When can I take part?
Open dates for 2025 will be publicised nearer the time.
How do I take part:
Students who are eligible to complete the UES will be emailed the link to their University email account. You can also complete the survey by clicking on the link below and entering your student ID to both the username and password fields.
Why should I take part?
The Undergraduate Experience Survey is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future.
What does it cover?
UES concentrates on your course and includes:
- Resources
- progress and assessment
- responsibilities
- support
- skills and professional development
- opportunities
- overall experience
- motivations
What happens to the results?Your feedback is important. We can compare your experience against other undergraduates to see if we are supporting your learning as we should. We use the findings to improve our courses and the learning experience for future students.
Is it anonymous?
Your survey response is confidential to the team processing the results and no reporting outside of this team will identify any individual. Any results communicated to teaching staff will be anonymised.
The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific members of staff.
What do I need to do?
You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire. Simply click on the link and enter your student ID number into the username and password field and complete the online form.
Where can I find out more?
If you are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or have any difficulty, please see your course or course leader, or contact the Experience, Engagement and Wellbeing team by email: studentlife@abdn.ac.uk.
- Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) - (February - June)
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We’re keen to make sure postgraduate students have the best possible experience while studying at the University of Aberdeen. To do that we need to know what you think we are doing well and what we can do better. If you’re thinking about taking part this year, these are the answers to some of the questions students often ask:
What is it?
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey or PTES is a national survey of postgraduate taught students inviting them to comment on their course and experience. The questionnaire takes around 15 minutes to complete.
How do I take Part?
Students who are eligible to complete the PTES will be emailed the link to their University email account. T
When can I take part?
Open dates for 2025 will be publicised nearer the time.
Why should I take part?
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future.
What does it cover?
PTES concentrates on your course and includes:
- The experience of teaching and learning, including: staff, learning materials, working with other students;
- Engagement and course challenge;
- Assessment and feedback, including supervisor support for dissertation or major project;
- Organisation and management, including induction and involvement in course decisions;
- Resources, including learning resources;
- Support, including for academic skills and for health and wellbeing
- Skills development, including independent learning, research skills and career skills
- Overall satisfaction;
What happens to the results?
Your feedback is important. Over one hundred universities and colleges take part. This means we can compare your experience against similar postgraduates at other institutions to see if we are supporting your learning as we should. We use the findings to improve our courses and the learning experience for future students.
Is it anonymous?
Your survey response is confidential to the team processing the results and no reporting outside of this team will identify any individual. Any results communicated to teaching staff will be anonymised.
The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific members of staff.
What do I need to do?
You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire. Simply click on the link and enter your student ID number into the username and password field and complete the online form.
Where can I find out more?
If you are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or have any difficulty, please see your course or course leader, or contact the Experience, Engagement and Wellbeing team by email: studentlife@abdn.ac.uk. You can also read more about the survey by going to the Advance HE website.
- Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) - (February - May)
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We’re keen to make sure postgraduate students have the best possible experience while studying at the University of Aberdeen. To do that we need to know what you think we are doing well and what we can do better. If you’re thinking about taking part this year, these are the answers to some of the questions students often ask:
What is it?
The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is a national survey conducted by institutions across the UK and globally. The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete.
How do I take part:
Students who are eligible to complete the PRES will be emailed the link to their University email account.
When can I take part?
Open dates for 2025 will be publicised nearer the time.
Why should I take part?
The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future.
What does it cover?
PRES concentrates on your course and includes:
- Supervision
- Resources
- research culture
- progress and assessment
- responsibilities
- support
- research skills and professional development
- opportunities
- overall experience
- motivations
What happens to the results?Your feedback is important. Over one hundred universities and colleges take part in the UK and globally. This means we can compare your experience against similar postgraduates at other institutions to see if we are supporting your learning as we should. We use the findings to improve our courses and the learning experience for future students.
Is it anonymous?
Your survey response is confidential to the team processing the results and no reporting outside of this team will identify any individual. Any results communicated to teaching staff will be anonymised.
The survey asks that any comments you make should not identify yourself or any specific members of staff.
What do I need to do?
You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire. Simply click on the link and enter your student ID number into the username and password field and complete the online form.
Where can I find out more?
If you are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or have any difficulty, please see your course or course leader, or contact the Experience, Engagement and Wellbeing team by email: studentlife@abdn.ac.uk. You can also read more about the survey by going to the Advance HE website.
- New to UoA (January / October)
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What is it?
The New to UoA survey gives you all new students the opportunity to share their thoughts on their new student experience.
Help us make the UoA student experience even better by sharing your views on what we’re doing well and how we can improve.
The survey will take you around 10 minutes to complete, and you can access it anytime during the live period.
When can I take part?
Open dates for 2025 will be publicised nearer the time.
- Please note that you get the opportunity to ask for further information on some of our services. This will generate an automatic email to your UoA email account sent from noreply@qemailserver.com.
Student Privacy Agreement
- Uni Accommodation Leavers Survey
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Every year we ask our residents to complete a survey to tell us about their experience of living in UoA accommodation.
The survey runs in March.
- The Aberdeen Student Experience Survey (October / November)
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The Aberdeen Student Experience survey (ASES) gives you the opportunity to share your thoughts on University services, facilities and communications!
Help us make the UoA student experience even better by sharing your views on what we’re doing well and how we can improve. The ASES runs every year and is open to all registered students of UoA, so we’d love to hear your thoughts on how things are going so far this academic year.
The survey will take you around 10 minutes to complete. You can access it anytime between 1- 31 October (UG and PGT), and 1-30 November (PGR).
All responses are anonymous, so you can give your open, honest feedback.
What is the ASES? The ASES is an annual survey of all UoA registered students, inviting students to give their opinions about their UoA experience.
The survey covers key areas including:
- Support
- Facilities
- Communications
- Overall satisfaction
Please note that you get the opportunity to ask for further information on some of our services within the ASES. This will generate an automatic email to your UoA email account send from noreply@qemailserver.com.
Why should I complete the ASES? The ASES has been designed to capture students’ views on University services, facilities, support and communications. This is your opportunity to give your honest feedback about your time in Aberdeen anonymously.
Your response to the ASES will help provide useful information to the University and help to make improvements throughout the year.
Who can take part? All registered students can take part in the ASES
- Open for UG and PGT students from 1-30 October inclusive.
- Open for PGR students from 1-30 November inclusive.
How can I view the results? The results of the ASES will be uploaded to this section in due course.
- You can view the 2022 ASES results here.
Student Privacy Agreement
- Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCA) - (April – February 2025)
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We’re really excited to take part in this year’s Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCA).
The WUSCAs are compiled from the reviews which students like you leave on Whatuni, and rank institutions according to the things that students really care about – student support, campus facilities, lecturers and teaching quality, and so on
Whatuni is the UK’s largest source of independent, real, honest student reviews–reviews which have several benefits:
- They give students like you a really important voice and platform to share your views.
- They allow us to find out what you really think, so we can make improvements to our offering.
- They could win YOU a £200 voucher for taking part.
We’d really love you to participate by visiting the Whatuni website to write a review.
When do submissions open?
TBC
How can I submit my review?
You can participate by visiting the Whatuni website.
- Graduate Outcomes - Your Future Shapes Our Future (Graduates)
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Graduate Outcomes is the biggest UK annual social survey capturing the perspectives and current status of recent graduates. All graduates who complete a Degree Programme will be asked to take part in the survey 15 months after they finish their studies, giving current and future students the information they need to make informed choices and to help the University of Aberdeen evaluate, enhance and promote our Degree Programmes. Taking part in the survey gives you a voice.
You will receive your survey invitation around 15 months after you have completed your degree. It will be sent via email and text from Graduate Outcomes or GradOutcome, and not the University of Aberdeen.
We need your responses to this survey to allow current and future students to make informed choices and to help us to evaluate and promote our courses. The survey only takes 10 minutes to complete online and you can access it on any device.
Update your contact details!
To support the survey, we are required to hold accurate personal contact details for you to enable the Graduate Outcomes team to contact you directly to obtain your survey response. This must include a personal email address, at least one direct telephone number for you, and a postal home address (this can be a parental/guardian address).
To ensure you can be contacted about the survey, we would be very grateful if you could now review and update the personal contact details we currently hold for you. This is particularly important where the details we currently hold maybe out of date e.g. where you have moved or no longer have access to shared emails / mobiles / landlines.
To understand how the University uses your personal data please read the privacy agreement.
About the survey
The survey will be delivered by the Graduate Outcomes team which is part of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on behalf of the higher education funding and regulatory bodies and higher education providers. The funding and regulatory bodies commission the Graduate Outcomes survey and require HESA and higher education providers to work together to deliver the survey. HESA have published privacy information for students on how your contact details will be used.
Keep your eyes peeled and make sure you use your chance to influence the future of education. Be part of the picture.