Hungary tops the international league table for student satisfaction!

Hungary is the country with the highest overall levels of student satisfaction according to the world’s most comprehensive university satisfaction survey from Studyportals, Unibuddy and the British Council IELTS – the 2023 Global Student Satisfaction Awards.  In another win for Hungary, Budapest’s Semmelweis University was named winner of the Quality of Student Life category. 

The survey also showed student satisfaction with university education has increased globally post-pandemic. The surge has been driven by students’ return to campus post-pandemic and universities improving their online learning offering.

However, out of the ‘Big four’ study destinations however, only the US was rated higher than the global average. The UK, Australia and Canada were rated below the global average by students.

Ratings from 126,000 domestic and international students taking part in the 2023 Global Student Satisfaction Awards shows student experience has improved since the last survey in 2021 across every category measured. Overall global Student Satisfaction rose to 4.21 out of 5 (from 4.06 in 2021). Although still the lowest rated category, Online Classroom Experience saw the largest growth – up 7.2% – followed by Quality of Student Life (up 6.4%).

Studyportals CEO and Co-founder Edwin van Rest says, “The Global Student Satisfaction Awards is the only global programme which recognises the best universities from the perspective of students. It is great to see how well Hungary has performed in this against a backdrop of rising student satisfaction – a fantastic compliment to the higher education sector. However, we are seeing issues with the performance of the Big Four which they need to address, and with one in five English-taught programmes delivered outside the Big Four, there is more competition for students in more destinations.”

Read also:

• THE Ranking: Four Hungarian universities performed really well again – Read more HERE
• CHART: Hungarian universities among the best in three world rankings – Details in THIS article

The 2023 Global Student Satisfaction Awards Report showed: 

• Internationally, Hungary is the country with the highest overall levels of student satisfaction at 4.39 (up 0.04p.p. from 2021). Portugal saw the highest uptick in student satisfaction (up 0.28p.p. from 2021 to 4.33) since the last edition of the Global Student Satisfaction Awards.
• The University of Navarra in Spain was the overall Global Student Satisfaction Award winner. Category winners came from Austria (Student Diversity), the US (Online Classroom Experience, and Student-Teacher Interaction), Sweden (Admissions Process), Hungary (Quality of Student Life), and Ireland (Career Development).
• Universities in the US have a strong hold across various dimensions of student satisfaction, especially for Admissions Process (4.68), Student- teacher Interaction (4.57), and Career Development (4.44). Overall Satisfaction stands at 4.32 for the US. Edwin van Rest, co-founder and CEO of Studyportals says: “There is a different political climate in the US now compared to 2021. The State Department has done a lot of work to make international students a priority and the climate t is more welcoming.”

Student satisfaction in top study destinations

2023  Global Student Satisfaction Awards – leading universities

 “For the University of Navarra it is an immense joy to receive this award, since for us offering students an outstanding academic and extra-academic experience is a key goal of our everyday work.”  says Ana Beatriz Delgado Director, International Relations Office at the University of Navarra.

About the Global Student Satisfaction Awards

The 2023 Global Student Satisfaction Awards, are hosted by Studyportals with partners Unibuddy and British Council IELTS, and media partners Times Higher Education and PIE News. They are based on data from 126,000 reviews from domestic and international students from over 200 different nationalities and reviewing higher education institutions in 126 countries. The awards are held every two years, and the initiative has gathered over 400,000 responses since it started over 10 years ago.

 Global winners in each category were announced at the Global Student Satisfaction Awards on October 18.