International students impressed with Lancaster University
Over three quarters of international students would encourage others to apply to Lancaster University according to a survey.
Lancaster also came top for safety on campus in the 2007 International Student Barometer survey which questioned over 400 students from 63 countries and benchmarked the results against 56 other UK universities.
An undergraduate from Malaysia said: “I made a wise decision to come here. The lecturers and course content are excellent. No other place is better than Lancaster.”
Overall, the international students gave Lancaster a satisfaction rating of over 78 per cent – over one per cent higher than the average for the other UK universities.
An undergraduate from India said: “I have had a wonderful time here. I think others should also make use of that. Also, the quality of education here seems to be very high.”
A total of 95 per cent of students at Lancaster were impressed with the high levels of safety on campus – the highest satisfaction rating of any other institution participating in the survey - while a further 94 per cent were impressed with faith provision and 92 per cent with the expertise of the lecturers.
One postgraduate from Egypt said: “Coming here is the best experience of my life. I have learned here in this year more than I did during my whole life. The academic staff are the top in the field.”
The library facilities, technology, internet services and research were all ranked highly in the survey while the students were also happy with good transport facilities and the social life.
Support services for students also received the thumbs up, with students very satisfied with the chaplaincy centre and the finance office, the accommodation office and the Graduate School.
Over half the respondents are studying at the Lancaster University Management School while almost a third are studying arts and social sciences and 15 per cent science and technology.
The International Student Barometer Survey was carried out on behalf of the University by the niche consultancy i-Graduate.
Jennifer Raper, International Student Adviser and Manager at Student Support Services, said: "It was extremely important for the University to engage in this process and we value enormously the many significant insights gained from the students who lent their voice to the survey.
“We were especially pleased to learn that Lancaster student Sheau-Ming Song, doing a PhD in Visual Arts, won the i-Graduate annual scholarship of £2,500 in recognition of having completed all three waves of the ISB survey. Student Support Services has been granted funds, through the Alumni Friends Programme to work with university service providers and academic departments with the aim of further exploring and understanding the valuable data collected."