At the heart of the student experience is a sense that each student belongs and matters. A strong sense of belonging correlates to greater retention, engagement, confidence and mental health. The opposite: disconnection, exclusion, alienation, disengagement, and poor wellbeing – cannot help but influence student outcomes. And the impact is both more likely and worse for marginalised or less advantaged students. Recent research has helped inform higher education institutions’ strategy to foster belonging, but what might implementation look like in practice?
Belonging is a multi-faceted concept, encompassing a number of issues which were present prior to the pandemic, but were thrown into much starker relief by Covid-19 and the move to remote learning, as highlighted by the UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission interim report. Many institutions are prioritising belonging as a way to frame and consolidate initiatives such as mental health (in the wake of UUK’s Step Change agenda and Student Minds University Mental Health charter), inclusive pedagogies and address calls to broaden curricula, and to improve engagement, progression and success as part of access and participation regulatory goals as well as student satisfaction.
