Hereford College of Arts (HCA) has recorded exceptional results in the 2025 National Student Survey (NSS), placing it among the UK’s leading higher education providers for teaching quality, learning opportunities, and student support.
The NSS – an independent, UK-wide survey capturing the views of final-year BA (Hons) students – found that HCA significantly outperforms national benchmarks across multiple measures. Standout results include:
● Developing skills for your future career: 93.9% positive (+11.6 ppt)
● How well teaching supported your learning: 96.3% positive (+9.0 ppt)
● Exploring the subject in depth: 92.7% positive (+4.8 ppt)
● Academic support: 93.3% positive (↑ 6.4 ppt)
● Learning resources: 92.4% positive (↑ 8.9 ppt)
HCA’s highest scoring areas reflect the College’s commitment to time, personal attention, and genuine engagement with students:
● Learning opportunities: 90.2% positive (↑ 7.5 ppt)
● Providing feedback that improves your work: 92.7% positive (+11.8 ppt)
● Receiving feedback on time: 93.9% positive (+8.1 ppt)
● Balance of directed & independent study: 90.2% positive (+13.3 ppt)
These results come in a year when HCA students have excelled nationally – with students from this graduating class featuring in The Guardian and winning prestigious awards such as New Designer of the Year.
The data – which can be viewed in full on the NSS website – underscores how the College’s student-focused model drives outstanding achievement both academically and professionally.
Abigail Appleton, Principal of HCA, said:
“I am delighted that Hereford College of Arts has again achieved such strong results in this national, independent survey. I’m enormously proud of the staff expertise and effort that underpins the results, and the quality of the individual and personal attention staff give to student learning and progression, which is at the core of our offer to students. One of the UK’s great strengths is the diversity of its higher education institutions. I believe our NSS results, alongside student success in national competitions like New Designers, are testament to the huge value a smaller specialist degree provider brings to student experience. As our Student Union President recently described the college, ‘we are small but mighty’! We are also committed to continuous improvement and to working with students to maintain excellent scores and always keep improving, and I am grateful to the many students who responded to the survey and shared their feedback with us.”
Strategic impact
The NSS results follow an outstanding set of result in 2024. They reinforce HCA’s position as a high-quality alternative to larger institutions, offering a distinctive model where people matter – and where both students and staff benefit from an environment built around close contact, deep engagement, and personalised learning.
Learning is a deeply personal process. This data shows that HCA’s own students view the teaching and learning on their degree to be impactful and of high-quality to a level that many of the most prestigious universities in the UK are unable to match.
