Last year Edward Peck, the government’s student support champion, told a gathering of student accommodation professionals that a sense of belonging in first year accommodation was an important contributor to student mental health.
The speech took place at the Joint Codes Conference last November and provided recognition for something we all knew – for resident students, feeling like they belong in their student accommodation is much more than a nice-to-have.
Let’s turn this on its head. Feeling excluded in what is supposed to be your home at university is not the basis for positive mental health, a good student experience and hardly conducive to academic achievement.
We’ve known for some years how important it is for students to develop a sense of belonging as part of their academic experience thanks to the work of Liz Thomas, but now it’s time to turn that spotlight on student accommodation. It could be a vital step in addressing a sector-wide issue that seems resistant to change – the degree awarding gap.
