UK university attendance is falling even as students rate teaching more highly. How can both be true?
Picture a short news bulletin. The anchor announces, “University teaching improves.” A second reporter rushes in: “Attendance is falling!” The anchor pauses: “Wait … what?”
It sounds like a contradiction. The survey results describe different parts of student experience, and both deserve attention.
What the attendance figures show
HEPI and Advance HE’s 20-year analysis of the Student Academic Experience Survey compares annual surveys of full-time UK undergraduates. In 2006, 63% reported attending all their scheduled teaching. In 2025, 48% did. These are different cohorts surveyed over time, rather than the same students followed for 20 years.
| Measure | 2006 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Attended all scheduled teaching | 63% | 48% |
| Average scheduled teaching missed, all students | About 1 hour a week | 2.4 hours a week |
Source: HEPI and Advance HE, 20-year Student Academic Experience Survey analysis. The 2025 average scheduled timetable was 15.2 hours a week.
Among the 52% who missed at least some teaching in 2025, the average missed time was about five hours a week. That is substantial. It does not, on its own, tell us why each class was missed or whether a student later caught up.
What the teaching ratings show
The 2026 Student Academic Experience Survey reports improved teaching-quality ratings across almost every measure. Some 45% rated their course good or very good value for money, up from 37% in 2025 and the highest proportion in a decade. Two-thirds said they were happy with their course and institution.
These teaching ratings are from 2026, while the long attendance comparison runs through 2025. The surveys therefore show a broad pattern, not a controlled test proving that better teaching and lower attendance occurred for the same individual students.
The attendance problem is not automatically a teaching-quality problem. Nor do stronger ratings make missed contact time unimportant.
Why might students miss teaching?
The surveys point to pressures worth investigating. They cannot assign one cause to every absence.
1. Paid work
The share of students doing paid work during term rose from 35% in 2015 to 68% in 2025, according to HEPI’s survey analysis. Work and classes can compete for the same hours. A student choosing a shift to cover living costs may face a difficult trade-off, even when they value the teaching.
2. Travel and competing responsibilities
A long or costly commute can make a short on-campus session hard to attend. Caring duties, illness, and other responsibilities may add to that pressure. The practical question is whether timetables and support match the lives students actually lead.
3. Flexibility and wellbeing
Some students need more flexibility to manage their health, work, or family commitments. Flexible access can help them keep studying. It should also come with a clear way to participate and seek help.
4. Online catch-up
Recorded lectures and digital materials can make missed sessions easier to revisit than they were in 2006. Catching up online may be valuable, but watching a recording is not always the same as discussing ideas in a seminar or getting live feedback. The effect depends on the activity and on how the student uses the material.
Two things can be true
Students can rate teaching highly and still struggle to attend every session. Attendance alone is an incomplete measure of teaching quality or of an individual student’s engagement.
For universities, a useful response is to ask what sits behind an absence: timetable clashes, travel time, paid shifts, wellbeing, unclear expectations, or the design of online materials. Different causes call for different support.
For students, the aim is to stay connected to learning when being in the room is difficult. Check what was covered, use the reading and recording actively, ask questions, and find out which activities require live participation. If work or travel repeatedly clashes with teaching, speak to your tutor or student support team before the gap grows.
For those supporting students, replace a quick judgement with a useful question: “What would make it possible for you to take part?” Our guide to navigating a UK university’s digital learning culture offers a practical starting point for managing platforms and catch-up work.
At SCRIPTURAM, we help students understand academic expectations and plan their own learning with confidence and integrity. Teaching is improving. Attendance is falling. The task is to understand the reasons and help students stay involved.
Two things can be true.
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