Elsevier produces a ranking every year of the best studies at universities and universities of applied sciences, and lists all the institutions from best to worst. This is based on a single question in the National Students Survey (NSE), namely how satisfied are students in general with their program. The more positively assessed programs an institution has (and the fewer negatively assessed), the higher it stands in the ranking.

With 14 positive, five average and no negatively assessed programs, Wageningen comes out on top, as it did last year - not only in the ‘specialist universities’ category, but also in the overall classification. In the number two spot stands TU/e, winner in the ‘technology universities’ category, with seven of its 12 assessed programs achieving a positive opinion.

Among the ‘broad universities’ the scores are clearly lower because most studies are assessed as being average. With 11 positively assessed programs, 26 average and eight negatively assessed programs, Utrecht again tops this ranking. Bringing up the rear once again is the University of Amsterdam, where 16 of the 59 studies assessed were rated as unsatisfactory by students.