11 July 2019

Double celebrations for Higher Education at USP College

USP College is not only celebrating the fact it achieved 100% satisfaction for the quality of its Higher Education courses in this year’s National Student Survey (NSS), but also for being awarded the TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) Silver quality standard for its high-quality HE teaching.

The College is one of only 33 Higher Education Institutions in the UK to get 100% student satisfaction for the quality of its Higher Education courses in this year’s National Student Survey, 16% above the national average and 22% above its leading competitor.

They also gave the lecturers top marks, stating that they feel they value their views and opinions about the course.

A total of 403 universities, colleges and alternative providers took part in the survey, which is published annually by the Office for Students (OfS). This year’s survey was completed by more than 330,035 Higher Education students.

The survey gives students the chance to provide honest feedback on what it is like to study at their institution.

As well as celebrating the results from the NSS, the College was awarded the TEF Silver quality standard in June for delivering high-quality teaching, learning and outcomes for its students and for consistently exceeding rigorous national quality requirements for UK higher education.

The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a national exercise, introduced by the government in England, which assesses excellence in teaching at universities and colleges, and how well they ensure excellent outcomes for their students in terms of graduate-level employment or further study.

Colleges are given a rating of gold, silver or bronze, or a provisional award if there is not enough data for a full assessment.

The TEF panels also highlighted the “mechanisms in place to enhance the students’ capacity to understand and respond to assessment feedback, enabled by academic support tutors and individualised feedback accompanied with target setting.”

Stuart Coussins, Head of Learning for Higher Education, said: “The credit here goes to our excellent teaching staff that enable an academic experience that student’s value highly.

“Supporting our learners to achieve is at the core of our practice, and much work is conducted on understanding the individual journeys of the students on our programmes.

“It is very rewarding to have this recognised not only by the students but by the Independent TEF panel.

“We are very proud of the results published.

“Higher Education at USP College gives our students excellent value for money with competitive fees while ensuring our teaching and support is second to none.”

Working in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire, Writtle University College and Docklands Academy, USP College provides an alternative to university, bringing Higher Education courses closer to home.

The College, with campuses in Benfleet and Grays, benefits from small class sizes, providing its students with more individual tuition and advanced support.

USP College offers Higher Education courses in Applied Biology, Art & Design, Computing, Early Years, Education Studies, Health Promotion & Social Care, Public Services and Sport & Exercise Performance.