Where the data comes from
The figures on WhichUniversity come from the Discover Uni dataset, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). It is the same official data used by the government’s Discover Uni website. Universities and colleges submit information about their courses, and it is combined with national surveys and records.
Student satisfaction
This comes from the National Student Survey (NSS), which asks final-year undergraduates about their course: teaching, learning opportunities, assessment and feedback, academic support, organisation, learning resources and student voice.
On our pages, “student satisfaction” is the average positivity across the NSS questions published for that course: the share of students who gave a positive answer. A score of 85% means that, on average, 85% of students answered positively.
Entrants’ UCAS points
This shows the tariff points held by students who started the course, based on recent entrants. We show the band that the middle student fell into. It is a guide to how competitive a course is, not the official offer.
In work or further study
This comes from the Graduate Outcomes survey, which contacts graduates about 15 months after they finish. It shows the share who were working, studying, or both.
Salaries
- Median salary after 15 months comes from the Graduate Outcomes survey and covers graduates in full-time paid employment in the UK.
- Median salary after 3 or 5 years comes from Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data, which links tax records to education records.
The median is the middle value: half of graduates earned more and half earned less.
Continuation
The share of students who were still studying, or had completed their qualification, a year after starting. Low continuation can point to problems with support, but it can also reflect the kind of students a course attracts, such as more mature or part-time students.
Things to keep in mind
- Small numbers. When too few students respond, figures are not published, or are combined with similar courses or earlier years.
- Subject matters most. Salaries depend far more on subject and career than on university. Compare like with like.
- The past is a guide, not a promise. All of these figures describe previous students.
See our methodology for exactly how we process the data.