The Global Student Satisfaction Awards celebrate institutions that deliver outstanding student experiences, and it’s based entirely on student reviews. By sharing their honest experiences, students empower others around the world to make confident, well-informed decisions about where to study.
At Studyportals, our primary mission is to empower the world to choose education. Through initiatives like this, we provide future international students with real insights and peer feedback, helping them discover the study programme and university that suits them best.
How students can review universities on our portals
We’ve always aimed to provide students with accurate information to guide them through their study choice.
But for years, we’ve noticed something was missing; student voices weren’t consideredin university rankings. While rankings from organisations like Times Higher Education, TopUniversities, and U.S. News provide valuable institutional metrics, we believe the conversation about quality in higher education is only complete with student voices.
You can review your university right here!
How do we make sure we get the best university reviews
Since the first edition of the Global Student Satisfaction Awards, we have collected around460,000 student reviews with the help of our partners:
- ESN (Erasmus Student Network)
- ESTIEM (European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management)
- EDUopinions
To prevent false reviews and fraudulent behaviour, we use validation systems (e.g. manual checks, email checks, and direct communication with the reviewers).
Main categories for the student reviews
There are eight criteria used for reviewing each university. Ratings can be given from 1 to 5, and no distinction is made between local and international students. The only exception is category 3 (Life quality of students), where reviews collected through ESN are not considered due to the high chance of them coming from exchange students, who do not usually experience a regular admission process.
Let’s learn a bit more about each of the eight categories:
| Category | Question asked to students |
1 | Overall satisfaction | How would you rate your overall study experience? |
2 | Student-teacher interaction | How helpful were your teachers? |
3 | Quality of student life | How was your everyday life? |
4 | Career development | Did the university provide support for your career development? |
5 | Student diversity | How diverse was the atmosphere at your university? |
6 | Admission process | How simple was it to apply to your programme? |
7 | Online classroom experience | How was your experience with online courses? |
The 2025 Global Student Satisfaction Awards
- Based on the reviews collected during the review period (February to June 2025), we will recognise the leaders in student satisfaction. Give students around the world a voice to rank and select the best educational institutions that deliver outstanding student experiences.
- Help future students in choosing a university abroad based on the reviews of recent graduates orcurrently enrolled students.
- Inspire universities to engage with student feedback and encourage their communities to contribute to greater transparency in study options and the overall quality of global education.
How do we select the nominees for the 2025 awards?
For the Global Student Satisfaction Awards, each university can only be nominated for an award in one of the seven categories mentioned above. The category in which a university receives the highest score is chosen as the most representative for that institution. This is done to encourage diversity and a better representation of the different aspects of student satisfaction.
Only universities with English-taught programmes hosted on Studyportals’ platforms are eligible to participate, as this is the only way to map student reviews to institutions. To participate, institutions require at least 10 reviews. An exception is made for the Overall Satisfaction category, which requires a minimum of 30 reviewsdue to its broader scope. For each of the seven categories, we selected three regional finalists,one from each of the following regions:
- The Americas
- EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa)
- APAC (Asia-Pacific)
From these regional finalists, one global winner is selected in each category.Universities that achieve an average rating of 4.0 or higher in any category receive a Badge of Excellence. These badges will be displayed both on the university’s Studyportals profile and across our platforms.
Throwback to the 2023 finalists
The Global Student Satisfaction Awards 2023 took place online on October 18th, 2023. There were 21 finalist universities.
Category | Region | University | Country |
Overall satisfaction | EMEA | University of Navarra | Spain |
Americas | Cleveland State University (CSU) | United States | |
APAC | Yokohama National University | Japan | |
Student diversity | EMEA | University of Klagenfurt | Austria |
Americas | University of West Florida | United States | |
APAC | Prince of Songkla University | Thailand | |
Online classroom experience | EMEA | Kühne Logistics University | Germany |
APAC | Universiti Teknologi Malaysia | Malaysia | |
Americas | University of the People | United States | |
Admission process | EMEA | University West | Sweden |
Americas | Tecnológico de Monterrey | Mexico | |
APAC | Auckland University of Technology | New Zealand | |
Quality of student life | Americas | San Diego State University | United States |
EMEA | Semmelweis University | Hungary | |
APAC | Siam University | Thailand | |
Career development | EMEA | Dublin City University | Ireland |
Americas | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States | |
APAC | Swinburne University of Technology | Australia | |
Student-teacher interaction | EMEA | University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague | Czech Republic |
APAC | MARA Technological University | Malaysia | |
Americas | Denison University | United States |
Based on the reviews of thousands of students, we awarded prizes to the best universities in the world.
And the 2023 Global Student Satisfaction Awards grand winners are:
- For overall satisfaction: University of Navarra, Spain
- For student diversity category: University of Klagenfurt, Austria
- For online classroom experience: University of the People, United States
- For the admission process: University West, Sweden
- For Quality of student life: Semmelweis University, Hungary
- For career development: Dublin City University, Ireland
- For student-teacher interaction: Denison University, United States
Find your Master's at a top university abroad
Find your Master's at a top university abroad!
Leave your review, and make a difference!
Now you know what the Global Student Satisfaction Awards are all about, are you ready to share your review and help prospective international students make a better choice?
Share your university review now!
Let’s make education more transparent for students all around the world!
