We’re proud to announce an impressive 83.5% positivity rating for Open SU in the 2026 National Student Survey (NSS), released on Wednesday, 8 July.
This score reflects how well students feel Open SU represents their academic interests. Our rating is higher than the sector average by 4.8 percentage points, and once again sees us improve on what was achieved last year (83.1% in 2025).
The positivity score is based on responses to the question: “How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests?”
14,966 students participated in the survey, which is conducted annually across publicly-funded higher education institutions, including The Open University.
Natalie Baker, Open SU President, said:
"We are really pleased to see another set of positive results for the OU in this year's NSS. On behalf of Open SU, I would like to thank everyone for their contributions which are invaluable in helping us to improve student experience. We are delighted and proud to have received a positivity score of 83.5% in how well we represent the academic interests of students, which is 4.8 percentage points higher than the national average, and even better than was achieved last year."
Gareth Jones, Head of Student Voice, said:
"I am delighted that the hard work, skill, and commitment of everyone involved in student voice at Open SU has once again been recognised in the latest NSS results. Our continued improvement in how we represent the academic interests of students reflects the dedication of our Student Leadership Team, Student Representatives, our wider volunteer community, and the staff who support them.
"We have worked tirelessly to ensure the student voice is heard across the OU, demonstrated most recently through the launch of our What We Believe In Hub, and we will continue to advocate for improvements to the academic experience of all OU students."
View an infographic summary of the result
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The positivity measure for the National Student Survey is measured by the proportion of respondents who gave a positive answer.
The response options for “How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests” were:
- Very well
- Well
- Not very well
- Not at all well
- This does not apply to me
In this case, the positivity measure was calculated by dividing the number of students who answered “Very well” and “Well” by the number of students who gave one of the first four response options. This was then coverted into a percentage figure.