STUDENTS at North-East universities are among the happiest with their courses in the country, data has shown.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) publishes data each year showing levels of student satisfaction, and figures analysed over ten years has shown that North-East institutions have ranked consistently high.

While higher education bodies in the Northern Ireland and the East Midlands ranked top, the North-East was the third best region for student satisfaction, the data showed.

The three universities which ranked top on average for the best learning resources over the ten years were Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, but Teesside University came in eighth place for best learning resources, with the University of Newcastle ranked 13th.

For overall satisfaction over the last ten years, Hull and York Medical School was ranked 16, followed by the University of Durham, ranked 18th, the University of Newcastle in 29th place, the University of York in 48th place and Teesside at 78.

The University of Northumbria came in 90th place for overall student satisfaction over the ten years, with Sunderland at 106th.

This year's figures alone ranked Teesside University in 60th place for overall student satisfaction. 

Teesside’s Students’ Union was also ranked again as one of the best in the country in this year’s National Student Survey (NSS), with overall satisfaction at 85 per cent, placing it in the top ten of all UK university Students ’ Unions.

Teesside University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Croney, said: “It is vitally important that our students get the best student and learning experience while they are here at Teesside so we are delighted to have achieved such a fantastic result in the NSS. We are also pleased that a positive endorsement has been given to the work of our Students’ Union. Our vision is to continue to invest with our students at the heart of everything we do.”