The University of Leeds won the StudyPortals Award for Excellent Student Satisfaction 2016.

StudyPortals, a university review and advice website, declared the Leeds received the award due to earning the joint highest satisfaction rank among UK universities. Students’ reviews gave scores of over nine out of ten, with one Leeds alumnus claiming his experience made him more “receptive with the notion of difference.”

“Educating myself at Leeds […] gave me the opportunity to exchange my knowledge with foreign people, cultures and religions.”

Edwin van Rest, CEO of StudyPortals, responded that students now expect universities to offer “a strong international community.”  The website’s award is based on almost 16,000 international students’ comments.

“In the long term, university reputation is no longer enough to attract the best talent, and students expect their universities to also offer a good service level, […] promising careers perspectives and a return on their education investment,” he said.

Leeds’ national reputation for teaching quality had already been recognised the week before, when The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide rated us “University of the Year.”

Many students previously expressed concerns about the impacts of the Brexit vote; one programme they fear to be threatened is the ERASMUS Programme. But in an exclusive interview at the beginning of term, vice-chancellor Sir Alan Langlands labelled Leeds “a very international university”, which he said makes him “very hopeful.”

“We’ve got alumni in over 190 countries, so in a way we were international before we joined the EU […] As Brexiteers were saying in the run up to the referendum, if the government can use the money that it saves from Europe to bolster science research and education then that will be okay.”

Jordan Freud

(Image: University of Leeds)