Background: Students’ satisfaction is a key indicator of the effectiveness and quality of nursing education, reflecting how well institutions address academic, clinical, and professional needs. In District Swat, challenges such as limited resources, faculty shortages, and inconsistent clinical exposure may influence satisfaction levels and educational outcomes.
Aim: To assess the level of students’ satisfaction regarding the quality of nursing education in selected nursing colleges of District Swat.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among sixth-semester nursing students in selected colleges of District Swat. Using convenience sampling, 262 students were recruited from a total population of 820. Data were collected through a structured and validated questionnaire comprising demographic variables and 18 Likert-scale items measuring satisfaction. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25, applying descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations.
Results: The findings revealed that most students reported high satisfaction with faculty performance, classroom debates, adherence to timetables, submission of assignments, and practical teaching in skill labs. Moderate satisfaction was observed for professional development activities, technological resources, and participation in extracurricular activities. Overall, students expressed a positive perception of nursing education quality, highlighting effective teaching, clinical training, and administrative support, while identifying areas for improvement in mentorship, infrastructure, and resource availability.
Conclusion: Overall, students were satisfied with the quality of nursing education. Improvements in mentorship, infrastructure, and resource availability are recommended to further enhance learning outcomes and professional development.

The levels of student satisfaction are the major indicator of the quality and effectiveness of nursing education and the realization of the academic, professional, and developmental needs of the learners by the educational institutions.[1] The goal of nursing education is to develop competent, ethical, and qualified nurses based on a balanced combination of theoretical and practical training and beneficial learning settings. The perception of the students about the quality of teaching, the relevancy of the curriculum, the competence of the faculty, learning materials, and methods of assessment brings useful feedback in judging the level of education. Disagreements that impede the quality of education, including poor teaching methods, insufficient exposure to the clinical environment, inadequate facilities, and organizational issues, may affect the satisfaction and learning experience of students.[2] The satisfaction of students with the level of nursing education is crucial to reaching better academic programs and learning experiences, and preparing competent nursing graduates in the chosen nursing colleges of District Swat.[3]

Poor satisfaction with nursing education has been experienced in different national and global research. Indeed, it is indicated that 35% to 50% of nursing students report moderate to low levels of satisfaction with their educational programs, especially in publicly owned and resource-strained institutions.[4] Issues that are frequently raised are the presence of old curricula, ineffective practical exposure, faculty shortage, and lack of learning resources. This is more extreme in areas where educational facilities are limited, and the number of students entering educational facilities is rising.[5]

Academic competence and professional readiness of students are directly associated with the quality of nursing education. The quality of education can be defined as the effectiveness of the curriculum design, teaching approaches, evaluation approaches, and consistency between theoretical material and clinical practice. The students assess the quality of education according to the clarity of instructions, the relevance of the course material, and the possibility of developing skills.[6] Good education creates confidence and competence, and bad educational delivery creates dissatisfaction and low motivation.[7]

Faculty competence is a key factor that determines the satisfaction of students. Good instructors can show knowledge of the subject, be articulate, nurturing, and objective with assessment. Learners appreciate teachers who promote critical thinking, give constructive feedback, and create interactive learning. Poor instruction competencies or insufficient faculty direction negatively affect the perception that students have towards the quality of education.[8]

Clinical training is an essential aspect of nursing education, and it plays an important role in the level of satisfaction. Proper clinical exposure enables students to use theoretical content and psychomotor skills, as well as develop professional confidence. Inadequate clinical placements, excessive trainee sites, and a lack of appropriate supervision minimize the learning opportunities and student satisfaction.[9]

Students are also influenced in their educational experiences by learning resources and infrastructure. Effective learning is supported by the availability of well-equipped classrooms, skills laboratories, libraries, and educational technology. The lack of equipment, ineffective materials, and access to learning resources impede academic performance and lead to dissatisfaction.[10] The methods of assessment and evaluation have an impact on the evaluation of fairness and transparency in education among the students. Effective assessment criteria, feedback, and consistency between assessment and instruction increase faith in the educational system. Poor or unfair evaluation processes have a negative effect on students and cause frustration and decreased satisfaction.[11]

Learning is influenced by peers and institutional culture, which form the academic setting. Positive and accommodating conditions promote involvement, cooperation, and development. Poor academic environments, overworking, and the absence of student support facilities have a negative implication in satisfaction and well-being.[12] Satisfaction with nursing education is also influenced by psychological factors among the students. Perceptions of educational quality are affected by stress, academic pressure, as well as examinations and anxiety issues surrounding clinical performance. Counseling facilities and academic support institutions are beneficial for positive learning experiences.[13]

The administrative and organizational factors have a significant impact on the quality of education. The existence of clear policies in the academic sector, effective communication, and responsive administration are some of the effective elements that ensure smooth education processes. The absence of coordination, poor management, and provision of low-quality student services adversely affect.[14] Nursing education influences professional socialization as it influences the attitude of students towards the profession. Satisfaction and commitment to nursing are improved when exposed to ethical practices, role models, and leadership development. Poor professional identity development decreases both engagement and learning.[15]

The challenges experienced in the District Swat nursing colleges include scarcity of resources, faculty shortage, and a rising number of students in the colleges. Education is also determined by cultural requirements and infrastructural constraints. Empirical data that would measure the satisfaction of students regarding the quality of nursing education in this area is limited. It is important to assess students’ perceptions to detect the gaps and direct educational changes to improve the nursing education programs to achieve the national and international standards.[16]

The type of study was a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study that was used to determine the level of satisfaction of nursing students concerning the quality of nursing education in the chosen nursing colleges of District Swat. The research was done in institutions that provide undergraduate nursing education and clinical training programs, which reflected the academic setting of the district. The study population was all students in the 6^th semester of the nursing program, and they were formally enrolled in the chosen colleges at the time of data collection.

The total number of students selected was about 820 in the chosen institutions. The sample size needed was determined by the Rao-soft sample size calculator at a 95 percent confidence level with a 5 percent margin of error. The projected sample size was 262 students, which was sufficient to represent and to have statistical precision. The non-probability convenience sampling method has been employed to sample students who were able to match the inclusion criteria and were present on the day of data collection.

Data collection procedure: The graduate study committee (GSC) of the National College of Nursing, Swat, gave ethical approval. The administrations of the identified nursing colleges were then contacted to allow them to take part in the study. The purpose and objectives of the study were communicated verbally and in writing to the participants about the voluntary nature of the study. They were informed beforehand and gave their consent.

A two-section, adapted, validated structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Section I was the module that contained demographic data like age, gender, institute, past semester GPA, and district. Section II included 18 questions that tested the levels of student satisfaction with the quality of nursing education. The responses have been put in terms of a five-point Likert scale that included strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The questionnaires were filled in and safely kept, ensuring confidentiality.

Data analysis procedure: The data were coded and fed into SPSS version 25.0 to analyze. The findings were summarized using descriptive statistics. Nominal variables that were used to calculate frequencies and percentages included gender and district. Continuous variables such as age, preceding semester GPA, and satisfaction scores had their means and standard deviations calculated. Tables, charts, and brief descriptions were used to make findings clear and depict characteristics of the participants and their satisfaction with the quality of nursing education.

Demographic characteristics of participants: The demographic pattern of the study participants indicated that most of the nursing students were aged between 21 and 23 years (45.8%), then 18 to 20 years (30.5%), then 24 to 25 years (23.7%), which indicated the study was composed of young students. The sex distribution had more male students (77.1%) than female students (22.9%). In terms of the school of institute, a bit more than half of the respondents attended government colleges of nursing (53.4%), whereas the remaining 46.6 were in the private schools. Academic performance analysis was done according to the previous semester’s GPA, with 38.2% students showing a GPA of 3.1-3.5, 30.5% of students showing 2.5-3.0, 19.8% students indicating 3.6-4.0, and 11.5% showing a GPA of below 2.5. The findings here indicate that the population under the study was not only academically diverse, but it had different proportions of students with various performances and representation of both government and non-government institutions, and this gave a detailed picture of the demographic and academic profile of the students. The high percentage of younger students portrays the age group of the sixth-semester nursing students in the chosen colleges of District Swat. In general, demographic information provides valuable information.

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of nursing students

The overall levels of satisfaction of the students with the professional development and experiential learning activities were moderate to high. Playing the role of professional developmental activities, including seminars and workshops, was associated with moderate levels of satisfaction, where 38.2% responded affirmatively, 25.6% strongly affirmatively, 22.9% were indifferent, and 13.3% disagreed (overall moderate satisfaction: 63.8%). Moderate satisfaction was also achieved because of observational visits to other nursing institutes, with 36.3% of the total agreeing and 22.5% strongly agreeing, 26.7% neutral, and 14.6% disagreeing (satisfaction level: 58.8%). Community visits on health education impacted moderate satisfaction, with 34.4% and 22.9% agreeing and strongly agreeing, respectively, 24.8% expressed no opinion, and 18% disagreed (satisfaction level: 57.3%). Contrarily, the level of satisfaction was higher in hospital visits, where 42% responded affirmatively and 27.5% strongly affirmed that they were highly satisfied (69.5%), whereas only 21.0% were neutral and 9.5% disagreed. These results indicate that students appreciated direct clinical and hospital-based learning opportunities more than other professional developmental activities, which are of relevance to the need to have practical and hands-on activities in helping to improve satisfaction with the nursing education program.

Table 2: Satisfaction with professional development activities

The students’ satisfaction with classroom management, as well as academic organization, was mostly high in all aspects measured. There was a high level of satisfaction with the subjects or topics of debate in classes, with 42.0% agreeing, but 28.6% strongly agreeing, 19.1% was neutral, and 10.3% disagreed (satisfaction level: 70.6%). On working within the schedule, 45.8% said yes, and 23.7% said no, 21.0% said don’t know, and 9.5 said no, hence this is a high level of satisfaction of 69.5%. Performance records of the students were also placed highly, with 42.0% strongly agreeing, 23.7% agreeing, 22.9% neutral, and 11.5% disagreeing (satisfaction level: 65.7%). To submit assignments and presentations on time, 47.7% said they agreed, and 25.6% strongly agreed, 19.1% agreed, and 7.6% disagreed, which shows that these items were the most satisfied items with 73.3 %t. Such findings indicate that students were mostly pleased with the classroom work, organization of academics, and performance and assignment management, which points to the usefulness of organized academic operations in the chosen nursing colleges.

Table 3: Satisfaction with academic management and teaching

The results, in terms of the level of satisfaction among the students concerning faculty performance and institutional support, showed that their contentment was generally high. When asked about their general satisfaction with faculties, 47.7% of students responded with agreement, 23.7% responded strongly, 21.0% responded with a neutral response, and 7.7% responded with disagreement, and as such, the level of satisfaction is high at 71.4%. The respondents expressed satisfaction with the management of the institutes, with 42.0% agreeing and 23.7% strongly agreeing, 22.9% neutral, and 11.4% disagree, indicating a high level of satisfaction of 65.7. There was also a high level of satisfaction with the facilities in the institute (63.0%), 42.0% agreed, 21.0% strongly agreed, 22.9% neutral, and 14.1% disagreed. The level of satisfaction of students with the faculty on teaching the subject was high (70.2% of them were satisfied with it), 45.8% of them agreed with it, and 24.4% agreed with it strongly. In terms of practical skills in the skill lab, 42.0% answered yes and strongly yes, 22.9% answered neutrally, and 10.7% answered no, which gave 66.4% as the level of satisfaction. On the same note, a positive perception was noted regarding the continuous assessment practices, with 42.0% agreeing, 24.8% strongly agreeing, 21.0% neutral, and 12.2% disagreeing, and thus, a high level of satisfaction is 66.8%. All in all, the data showed that faculty performance, practical training, and institutional support were usually satisfied the students, and thus the specific areas of educational delivery were conducted effectively.

Table 4: Satisfaction with faculty and teaching

The present research evaluated the satisfaction of students with the quality of nursing education at the chosen nursing colleges of the District Swat. Overall, the findings showed that the general satisfaction was high in almost all areas of educational provision, especially the performance of the faculty, professional behavior, and communication. These results indicate that overall, the colleges of nursing could deliver quality education and establish a conducive learning atmosphere even in the face of limited resources and growing numbers of students.[17]

Students indicated high satisfaction regarding the faculty-related issues, such as subject teaching, practical demonstrations in the skill laboratories, and guidance in clinical practice, and their results were 66.4% to 71.4%. This indicates that faculty competence, communication, and professional behavior had a significant impact on the student perceptions of the quality of education, in line with prior studies that showed that friendly, informed, and knowledgeable instructors increase student satisfaction and academic interest.[18] Nonetheless, the extent of satisfaction was mesmeric in aspects such as access to the latest technology, professional developmental activities, and promoting the activities of extracurricular, which meant that the facilities in the institution and student support programs could be reinforced further.[19]

Another issue that was also noted in the study is that the well-structured academic schedules, submission and assessment of assignments on time, and the keeping of student performance records positively affected the satisfaction of students, with satisfaction levels of between 65.7 and 73.3. These results are correlated with the global literature that highlights that well-defined academic policies, learning activities, and the feedback provided in time enhance students’ confidence and perceived quality of education.[20]

The average scores were found in the areas of learning resources, such as access to modern computers, simulation equipment, and library access, and this indicates that the students were generally satisfied with the resources, but further improvement can be achieved in the provision of resources to ensure better practical and theoretical learning experiences.[21]

Skill laboratories were generally seen as being supported and supervised by the faculty, which was rated relatively highly in terms of satisfaction, but reported inconsistent mentorship, and personalized instructions revealed a slightly lower score of satisfaction in the role of institutional factors influencing the learning processes of students.[22]

The satisfaction degree in all aspects of the research was 66.8, which means that the students as a whole were happy with the quality of nursing education provided in the chosen colleges. The results emphasize the compatibility of technical competence with soft skills and good interaction between the faculty and students as the key elements of quality nursing education. They further state that specific changes related to infrastructure, clinical exposure, mentorship, and student engagement strategies may be further improved to raise the level of satisfaction and produce skilled nursing graduates who will be able to address healthcare requirements.[23,24]

Overall, it can be stated that students at the chosen nursing colleges in the District Swat were very satisfied with the performance of the faculty, the delivery of the curriculum, and professionalism. The moderate score of institutional support, learning resources, and mentorship depicts areas that can be improved to enhance and meet the global evidence on the effectiveness of structured guidance, resources, and supportive learning conditions in enhancing student satisfaction and educational quality.[25,26]

Recommendations: According to the findings, it is proposed to recommend the following:

• Support and mentoring of the faculty: Intensify supervision and individualistic mentoring within the theoretical and clinical sessions to enhance student learning outcomes.
• Modernize learning resources: Avail of modern technology, updated computers, simulation laboratories, and library facilities to aid in the development of practical skills and theoretical learning.
• Improve professional development: Conduct frequent workshops, seminars, and observations for the students to expose them to the latest nursing practice.
• Foster extracurricular involvement: This should help in encouraging the students to engage in extracurricular activities to enhance holistic professional development.
• Frequent evaluation and feedback: Adopt the continuous evaluation and feedback systems to make sure that the performance and progress of the students are assessed in a time-prompted manner.
• Curriculum improvement: Coordinate theoretically with practical clinical education and provide on-time changes to reflect the changing healthcare standards.

The research findings were that nursing students at the sampled colleges of District Swat were usually content with the quality of nursing education, and more so in fields of faculty performance, professionalism, communication, and practical teaching in skill labs. Clarity of instruction, feedback, and well-intentioned academic schedules were valued by students, and they improved their learning experiences. Contentment with respect to access to modern technology, professional development opportunities, extracurricular involvement, and individualized mentoring, however, yielded moderate satisfaction, which presupposes that institutional resources and systematic guidance might be improved to bring the quality of education to a higher point. In general, the results indicate that the colleges offer efficient nursing education, and there are still opportunities to enhance the infrastructure, clinical exposure, and faculty-student interaction to facilitate the academic and professional growth of students.

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Shah Hussain, Principal/Associate Professor, Janbar College of Nursing, Swat, for his invaluable supervision, guidance, and support throughout the course of this study.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Corresponding Author:
Nasar Mian
Department of Nursing
National College of Nursing, Swat, Pakistan
Email: nasarmian819@gmail.com

Co-Authors:
Muhammad Saud, Hammad Khan, Bilal Ahmad, Mehtab Ali, Ishfaq Ahmad, Muhammad Shah, Mushtaq Ahmad, Hamid Ullah
Department of Nursing
National College of Nursing, Swat, Pakistan

Nasar Mian, Muhammad Saud, Hammad Khan, and Bilal Ahmad contributed to data collection and data analysis. Mehtab Ali, Ishfaq Ahmad, and Muhammad Shah were responsible for data collection and literature review, while Mushtaq Ahmad and Hamid Ullah contributed to data collection and data organization.

Ethical Approval was obtained from the National College of Nursing, Swat, Ref No NCN/IRB/2026/04.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Nasar Mian is the guarantor of this study and takes full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

https://doi.org/10.63096/medtigo3062427

Mian N, Saud M, Khan H, et al. Assessing Students’ Satisfaction Regarding the Quality of Nursing Education in Selected Nursing Colleges in District Swat. medtigo J Med. 2026;4(1):e3062427. doi:10.63096/medtigo3062427 Crossref