A Survey of Students' Opinions About the Curriculum and Their Satisfaction With the Atmosphere of the University and the Learning Process As A Whole

Objective: The purpose of this study is to offer an instrument to investigate students' opinions about the curricula and their level of satisfaction with the atmosphere of the university and the learning process as a whole. The purpose of creating this instrument is to provide one of the principles of the European Quality Assurance Standards and Guidelines for Higher Education (ESG) 2015. This is the principle of considering the needs as well as the expectations of students in quality assurance in higher education. Theoretical Framework: To develop the tool suggested here, an extensive review of the research in the field was conducted, part of which is presented in this paper. Method: To investigate the reliability of the instrument, a survey was conducted among a representative sample including a total of 160 undergraduate and graduate students studying social sciences in the period 2020-2024 at Technical University-Varna, Bulgaria. Results and Discussion: The results demonstrate the reliability of using research-based student needs and expectations in determining student satisfaction with the university as a unit. The results also demonstrate the reliability in using the findings from the application of the questionnaire in understanding the extent to which a higher education institution, faculty or specialty, has succeeded in accounting for students' needs and expectations in providing the quality of higher educationе. Value: This research highlights the importance of the needs and the expectations of the students in ensuring the quality of higher education. Its contribution lies in providing a tool for their reporting.