Higher Education

Helping you reach your potential

Ipsos MORI's Higher Education research team delivers research which meets the challenges of the global higher education market, where competition for research funding is intense and each institution must demonstrate its excellence on many fronts. Students and researchers choose universities based on a host of practical and academic considerations, not least perceptions of value for money. As fees increase and the labour market across the world becomes more mobile, there is a sharp focus on the value of higher education and of the qualifications it offers. As a result, institutions, funding bodies, students, parents, policy makers, industry stakeholders and other local, national and international stakeholders all need effective research in order to identify and understand the important criteria for success, and to measure and track performance.

Institutions need to understand their potential to draw in the best students from across the world and to work more effectively as "businesses". Creativity and differentiation are increasingly important for institutions, and harder to attain.

We have extensive experience in working with stakeholder groups across the world, including institutions, prospective and current students, graduates, academics, heads of industry and employers. We are expert in carrying out the full range of quantitative research, data reviews/desk research, quantitative surveys, face-to-face, postal, online and telephone interviewing.

Our qualitative research includes discussion groups, in-depth interviews, ethnographic research, expert stakeholder interviewing, desk research, communications development, brand consultancy and website evaluation. Our global network means that we can coordinate inspiring and in-depth research around the world. We offer:

Ipsos MORI's gold standard higher education research project is the National Student Survey (NSS) conducted on behalf of HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) and key partners.The NSS is an opportunity for final year undergraduates to give feedback on their academic experience. The results are used to help future students to choose courses that best suit their needs and interests. This is part of the Government's drive to open up education and ensure that individuals can make informed choices. The NSS was run for the first time in 2005, and repeated annually. We have been running it since 2005, implementing a very complex mixed methodology survey. This involves online, postal and CATI methods to achieve a final response rate in excess of 56% from the 350,000 or so students eligible each year. The results are published along with other HESA information (Higher Education Statistics Agency) on Unistats, the teaching quality information website.

A complete set of NSS data for all higher education institutions is available here, followed by a breakdown of data by individual institutions. 

Other clients include:

• Higher Education Academy
• Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
• Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
• Nottingham Trent University
• National Union of Students (NUS)
• UCAS
• Most every University and College (higher education institution) in the UK