National Student Survey results
Queen Mary's Department of Geography and Environmental Science received outstanding results in NSS 2026, with students reporting sector-leading experiences in teaching, support, and feedback.
The publication of the results of the 2026 National Student Survey (NSS) on 8th July confirmed the Department’s status as a sector-leading provider of higher education in geography and environmental science. This independent, anonymous survey gathers opinions from all final-year students across the UK on the quality of their course.
Across Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies, we ranked:
- 1st amongst Russell Group universities for learning opportunities, academic support, assessment and feedback, organisation and management, and student voice.
- 2nd amongst Russell Group universities for teaching quality and learning resources.
- 1st in London for six out of seven NSS themes: teaching, learning opportunities, academic support, learning resources, organisation and management, and student voice.
Students valued the quality of teaching delivered by our academic team highly, with 100% in agreement that staff are good at explaining things. 98.9% also responded positively when asked how well our staff supported their learning, placing us in the top 10 nationally.
Standing out nationally and across London
1stin Russell Group
for learning opportunities, support and student voice for Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies (National Student Survey 2026)
1st in London for six out of seven NSS themes
teaching, learning opportunities, academic support, learning resources, organisation and management, and student voice (NSS 2026)
2ndamongst Russell Group universities for teaching quality and learning resources.
Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies (NSS 2026)
Course-level excellence across all programmes
Our efforts to manage our degree programmes in ways that work for our students were recognised, with 98.9% of students responding positively when asked: how well organised is your course? Our students play a significant role in supporting this goal through their suggestions and feedback via our Student Voice Committee, and they rated us amongst the top three nationally for the extent to which staff value their opinions.
Our students were the most positive amongst all those studying Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies at Russell Group universities when asked how well their course has developed the knowledge and skills that they think they will need for their future. Our commitment to encouraging our students to regularly showcase their knowledge and skills through a variety of assessment methods was also acknowledged, with 97.5% responding positively when asked how often our courses challenged them to achieve their best work.
These are an outstanding set of NSS results, and we’re thrilled to see our students enjoying and benefiting from our degree programmes to such a high level. Our academic team cares deeply about providing fantastic learning experiences and giving our students the best possible platform for their future.— Professor Alex Henshaw, Head of Department
