In search of the feeling of ‘belonging’ in higher education: undergraduate students transition into higher education

ABSTRACT

Previous research that evaluated first year students’ transition into university found that the values of ‘being, belonging and becoming’ were important in particular within the first few months and within the first year of university. From our previous work, we reported that three things matter to students: the academic staff they work with, the nature of their academic study and the feeling of belonging. This paper provides a further illumination to our work by reporting on the qualitative data collected in the same study. The study included 530 students from five cohorts over a five-year period. As part of the Student Experience Evaluation instrument, open-ended questions probed students about their early experiences of belonging and transition into university. This original research uses rich data to illuminate the scales and items from previous quantitative data analysis to explore ‘belonging’, triangulated with research from the field. This paper is timely due to increased emphasis placed on learning and teaching with the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Student satisfaction is not a simplistic measure and this study articulates the complexity of student belonging in Higher Education.     

Mature students’ journey into higher education in the UK: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

ABSTRACT

This article reports on issues of diversity in the context of widening participation in global higher education (HE). Mature students represent a third of the HE student population in Australia, Canada, UK and the USA. More research is needed to understand factors that can facilitate or hinder access to HE for this group. The aim of this study was to examine factors that a small group of mature students perceived influenced them as they made the decision to take up HE. Six undergraduate students at a British university who were on track to finish their studies took part in semi-structured interviews. All participants were white and from families with no previous experience of HE. Mean age was 42.7 years (range 35–51), and 50% were female. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Through using phenomenological analysis to analyse perceptions of changing motivation and goals during the decision-making process to take up HE, a detailed understanding of the complexity of these change processes was obtained. The analysis offers evidence that mature students experience far-reaching personal and social changes related to their decision to enter HE and adds a novel understanding of these identity-changes. This new insight is of fundamental importance to the field because the novel understanding of mature students’ meaning-making could be used to tailor interventions to facilitate access to HE for mature students.     

The moral dimension in Chilean higher education’s expansion

Chilean higher education has expanded greatly in recent decades, primarily through drawing on the private contributions of students and families, and an increased number and variety of institutions. In the context of attempts to address criticism that the sector is not free, public or high-quality enough, this article examines the association between education and its moral and ethical dimensions, and their separate yet complementary consideration alongside economic development, through the two centuries of the Chilean state’s existence. Since the beginning of the current decade, discontent with the framing and performance of higher education as a whole has grown. The overview traces this process not as fresh crisis, but part of a social question pondered repeatedly in the past and supported with varying success through educational and political initiatives. This historical (and historiographic) approach illuminates the limits of conceiving of higher education as either an economic good or as a human right, and an overlooked need to support its benefits through policy. Not simply an interpenetration with economic thinking, but also a lack of sufficient appreciation of Chile’s fundamental and singular character, present as challenges in understanding expanded access’s function and its prospective contribution to growing debates around ethics and inequality.     

Tutors’ assessment practices and students’ situated learning in higher education: chalk and cheese

This article uses situated learning theory to consider current tutor assessment and feedback practices in relation to learning practices employed by students outside the overt curriculum. The case is made that an emphasis on constructive alignment and explicitly articulating assessment requirements within curricula may be misplaced. Outside of the overt curriculum students appear to be interdependent learners, participating in communities of practice and learning networks, where sense-making occurs through negotiation and there is identity development. Such negotiation may translate curriculum requirements articulated by tutors into unexpected meanings. Hence, tutors’ efforts might be better placed on developing students’ ability to self-assess and to effectively evaluate and negotiate information, rather than primarily on their own delivery of the curriculum content and feedback. Tutors cannot be fully effective if they fail to consider students’ learning outside the overt curriculum, and ways to facilitate such learning processes are suggested together with future research directions.     

Self-concept of students in higher education: are there differences by faculty and gender?

Many studies examine student self-concept during compulsory schooling but few have explored the self-concept of students in higher educational settings. The current study examined self-concept by faculty and gender among higher education students in New Zealand. Participants were 929 undergraduate students from a large New Zealand university. The results showed some differences in verbal and maths self-concept by faculty. Generally, students in faculties teaching subjects more reliant on maths skills had higher maths self-concept than those in faculties where facility in verbal skills was important. The opposite results were found for verbal self-concept. No overall gender differences were found for general, academic, verbal and maths self-concept although a statistically significant difference was found for problem-solving self-concept. This finding suggests students’ choice of faculty may be based on perceptions of their skills and capabilities in the various fields, irrespective of gender.     

Teaching in higher education: Good teaching through students’ lens

This study explored 2475 Israeli students’ conceptions of good teaching and examined the relationship between these conceptions and students’ background characteristics. Data were collected using an internet survey designed to measure students’ conceptions regarding five teaching dimensions referring to goals to be achieved, long-term student development, teaching methods, relations with students, and assessment. Results indicate that students perceived assessment as the most important of the five teaching dimensions and long-term student development as least important. Only gender and field of study made a salient difference in students’ perceptions of good teaching. Implications for the evaluation of teaching are discussed.     

Value types in higher education – students’ perspective

The purpose of the paper is to propose the service-dominant logic in marketing as a framework for analysing the value co-creation process in the higher education sector and present the results of a quantitative study (a survey) conducted among business students from four Polish public universities. The results of the study led to identification of 40 factors of importance, later classified into seven value types expected by business students from their universities: functional, relational, intrinsic, epistemic, conditional, extrinsic and emotional value, with the first three types of value being the most important from students’ perspective. These findings lead to several managerial implications regarding the teaching methods and academic curriculum design, which are presented in the final section of the paper.     

Service user and carer involvement in students’ classroom learning in higher education

The following article presents a small-scale qualitative study in which the student learning experiences from service user and carer (SUAC) involvement in social work, mental health nursing and social welfare courses at an English university were evaluated for any effects on student perceptions, knowledge, skills and practice. Using focus group methodology, student participants reported positive outcomes from exposure to SUAC classroom inputs such as a greater valuing of SUAC knowledge as expert knowledge, help with the development of empathy and an appreciation of constructive challenges to mainstream curricular delivery. Notes of caution were identified, particularly in respect of the sometimes unexpected levels of emotion displayed by SUAC presenters. Recommendations for meaningful SUAC involvement in higher education are made regarding the need to involve SUACs across the whole duration of a course; the need for the preparation of both students and presenters regarding boundaries; the fit of presentations with intended learning outcomes; more partnership delivery in classrooms between academics and SUACs (possibly with a differentiation between theoretical and practice inputs); the opportunities for SUACs to present their own situations as real rather than hypothetical case studies for students and the possibilities that may result from introducing a ‘buddying’ system between students and SUACs throughout their studies. It is suggested that the insights from this small-scale study merit further exploration on a larger scale if policy and practice in the field of service and user involvement in higher education are to move forward in an inclusive manner.     

Individual and school factors affecting students’ participation and success in higher education

The purpose of this study is to identify school factors that affect students’ achievements at the secondary and tertiary levels of education. The analysis included data of 9,894 students who studied in Auckland regional secondary schools in 2004. The results indicate that, although student demographic characteristics are associated with students’ pathways and achievements, schools’ demographic composition did not affect student outcomes. It was found, however, that schools’ organisational factors do have an effect. At the university level, none of the schools’ characteristics was related to students’ achievements at the higher end of the achievement scale (GPA ≥ 4). However, students from private or state-integrated schools were found to be more likely to achieve low GPA (<2) than students who came from state schools. In conclusion, it is suggested that interventions targeting at-risk populations based on demographic factors should focus on individuals or groups rather than on institutions; while school-based interventions should identify the schools by their structure and function rather than by their demographic characteristics.

Affirmative action in Romania’s higher education: Roma students’ perceived meanings and dilemmas

This qualitative paper explores Roma students’ perceptions on the policy of assigning ‘special places’ for Roma in Romania’s universities. Findings suggest that Roma see themselves as occupying a precarious social space, concerned not as much to hide perceived merit violation but to handle (alleged) inadequacies given by their stigmatized ethnicity.     

Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together

Student belonging and engagement has received increased attention in the context of an expanding and more diverse higher education student population. Student retention is regarded as a priority with many universities augmenting their retention strategies to instil a sense of belonging. This article provides insights into first year Business Management students’ experiences of starting their degrees and retention interventions at a university in the South of England. It is based on findings from an ongoing study that applied Wenger's social theory of learning and adopted an appreciative inquiry approach to focus group interviewing to investigate students’ perceptions. Students developed a sense of belonging, constructed learner identities, made sense of their learning and gained confidence, but also experienced instances of tension and frustration that raise questions about the extent to which sociality practices within evolving communities of practice can address diverse engagement and identity development needs and mitigate disengagement.     

Supporting business students’ transition into higher education: the case of marketing downloads

This paper discusses a student-centred learning and teaching approach, ‘Marketing Downloads’, designed to support students in transition into Higher Education. The move from secondary to tertiary education can be stressful for students and it impacts on their academic performance, their social life and general sense of well-being. Marketing Downloads was designed with transition in mind and involves students initiating their own research to demonstrate the link between theory and real-world business practice, presenting their work and instigating a debate. Evaluation of data from five focus groups suggests that the social nature, the secure environment, the student-centred aspect and the links with the outside world help students understand the difference between secondary and tertiary education and ultimately contribute to a smooth transition. Recommendations for learning and teaching initiatives focus on these four aspects: a safe classroom environment, social networks, student-centred exercises and creating links to the outside world.     

‘Selective cosmopolitans’: tutors’ and students’ experience of offshore higher education in Dubai

As the offshore mobility of higher education has increased in recent times, the question of how it interacts with the recipient cultures has become ever more significant. Using ethnographic methods, this empirical study examined the adaptation of the UK teacher education model – the Postgraduate Certificate in Education – to the context of Dubai. The study asks ‘how do students and tutors experience the adaptation of British education in the context of Dubai?’ This paper will argue that tutors and students in offshore Dubai teacher education are ‘selective cosmopolitans’ who negotiate cross-cultural influences pragmatically and ambivalently. The study addresses a significant gap in the literature, as there is little written on the internationalisation of higher education in the context of Gulf Cooperation Council countries. There is also an inadequate appreciation of the role of local culture and religion in offshore education and tutors and students’ role as active agents in negotiating cross-cultural dynamics in the offshore educational setting.     

Possibilities for critical pedagogy engagement in higher education: exploring students’ openness and acceptance

Asia Pacific Education Review - Critical pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning which aims to impact social change through education. In this study, the possibility of engaging with...     

Standardised module evaluation surveys in UK higher education: Establishing students’ perspectives

Standardised module evaluation surveys have recently been implemented or extensively redesigned at many different HEIs across the UK in response to an evolving national context, notwithstanding a body of scholarship that has called student evaluation of teaching (SET) into question. Through a focussed single-institution study, this mixed-methods research fills a notable gap in the current literature in establishing students’ perspectives on standardised module evaluation by means of a paper-based questionnaire. Its participants (N=40) recognised some general advantages of a university-wide system, such as facilitating comparison between different modules; but they also acknowledged several shortcomings relating to its lack of sensitivity to individual module contexts and schedules, yielding the overall view that standardised surveys are only partially effective as a means of teaching evaluation. The conclusion considers the wider implications of these distinctive findings, and suggests that the perceived limitations of SET point to the need to triangulate its results with data obtained through alternative evaluation mechanisms.     

Māori university graduates: indigenous participation in higher education

Māori, the indigenous population of New Zealand, are gaining university qualifications in greater numbers. This article describes the history of Māori university graduates, their current situation and the implications for indigenous futures. Section one provides a brief overview of historical policies and practices that, similar to those used on other indigenous populations, resulted in the widespread exclusion of Māori from university education until the 1970s and 1980s. Section two describes findings for Māori university graduates (n?=?626) from the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand (GLSNZ). Results show that nearly half (48.4%) were the first member of their immediate family to attend university. Humanities/education (50.8%) was the most common domain of study followed by commerce (17.7%), science/engineering (15.4%), health sciences (10.9%), law (2.8%) and PhD study (2.4%). More Māori graduates were females (71%). One-third of graduates were parents, and being a parent was associated with a lower likelihood of studying science and engineering compared to those participants without children. The most common areas/fields that participants wished to work in post-graduation were education and training (28.3%), health care and medical (17.4%) and government (11.8%). Despite increases in higher education participation and completion, parity remains an issue. Similar to previous indigenous research findings, Māori are under-represented as graduates (7.1% of the total sample) and in particular as postgraduates (5.8%) considering that Māori constitute 14.9% of the New Zealand population. Contemporary indigenous graduates are critical for indigenous development. Over the next 10 years, the GLSNZ will follow graduates and provide insights into Māori graduate outcomes.     

Assessing collaborative work in a higher education blended learning context: strategies and students’ perceptions

This study examines students' views on a blended learning module developed and offered at the University of Aveiro. The paper presents the module and the strategies, tools, activities and assessment. In order to examine the effectiveness of the module, data were collected from reflections, postings and questionnaires. Findings document students’ opinions concerning the module, the activities and their learning. Students valued the module but expressed concerns in using the wiki tool, assessing collaborative work and in engaging in peer assessment activities. The results have practical implications for the design of collaborative activities and innovative assessment in blended learning environments.

Bewertung kollaborativer Arbeit in einem gemischten Hochschulbildungs‐Lernkontext: Strategien und Wahrnehmungen der Studenten

Diese Studie untersucht die Ansichten von Studenten auf einem gemischten Lern‐Modul, entwickelt und angeboten von der Universität Aveiro. Das Papier stellt das Modul und die Strategien, Tools, Aktivitäten und Bewertung vor. Um die Wirksamkeit des Moduls zu untersuchen, wurden die Daten von Reflexionen, Notizen und Fragebögen gesammelt. Die Ergebnisse dokumentieren die Meinungen über das Modul, ihre Aktivitäten und ihr Lernen. Studenten schätzten das Modul hatten aber Bedenken beim Wiki‐Tool, bezüglich des kooperativen Arbeitens, Bewertungen und Peer‐Bewertungs‐Aktivitäten. Die Ergebnisse haben praktische Folgen für das Design gemeinsamer Aktivitäten und innovative Bewertungen ?gemischter Lernumgebungen”.

L’évaluation du travail collaboratif dans un contexte d’enseignement universitaire mixte: le strategies et les perceptions des étudiants

La présente étude examine les opinions des étudiants sur un module d’apprentissage mixte (blended) mis au point et assuré à l’Université d’Aveiro. Cet article présente le module et les stratégies, les outils, les activités et l’évaluation. Pour déterminer l’efficacité de ce module, on a rassemblé des données à partir des réflexions, des envois et des questionnaires. Les éléments recueillis illustrent les opinions des étudiants à propos du module, des activités et de ce qu’ils ont appris. Les étudiants ont apprécié le module mais exprimé leur inquiétude quant à l’usage de l’outil wiki, de l’évaluation du travail collaboratif et de l’engagement dans des activités d’évaluation de leurs camarades. Ces résultats ont des retombées pratiques pour la conception des activités collaboratives et d’un mode d’évaluation innovant dans des environnements d’apprentissage mixte.

La evaluación del trabajo colaborativo dentro de un entorno de aprendizaje mixto (Blended Learning) en la enseñanza superior: estrategias y percepciones de los estudiantes

El presente estudio examina las opiniones de los estudiantes acerca de un módulo de aprendizaje mixto desarrollado y propuesto por la Universidad de Aveiro. El artículo presenta el módulo y las estrategías, herramientas, actividades y evaluación. Para determinar la eficacia del módulo se hizo una recogida de datos, basandose en reflexiones, mensajes y cuestionarios. Los resultados ilustran las opinones de los estudiantes acerca del módulo, de las actividades y de lo que han aprendido.Los estudiantes valoran el módulo pero expresaron su preocupación acerca del uso de la herramienta wiki, de la evaluación del trabajo cooperativo y de la dedicación a actividades de evaluación mutual. Esos resultados conllevan consecuencias prácticas para el diseño de actividades cooperativas y la evaluación innovadora en entornos de aprendizaje mixto.     

A journey of negotiation and belonging: understanding students’ transitions to science and engineering in higher education

The paper presents results from a longitudinal study of students’ decisions to enrol on a higher education science programme and their experiences of it. The aim is to give insights into students’ transition process and negotiation of identity. This is done by following a cohort of 38 students in a series of qualitative interviews during a 3-year period starting as they were about to finish upper secondary school. We find that the students’ choice of study is an ongoing process of meaning-making, which continues when the students enter higher education and continuously work on their identities to gain a sense of belonging to their science or engineering programme. The use of a narrative methodology provides understanding of choice of study as involving changes in future perspectives and in the interpretation of past experiences. Further, we gain access into how this meaning-making process over time reflects the students’ negotiations in terms of belonging to higher education and their coping strategies when their expectations of their new programme interact with their first-year experiences.     

Becoming employable students and ‘ideal’ creative workers: exclusion and inequality in higher education work placements

In this paper we explore how the ‘employable’ student and ‘ideal’ future creative worker is prefigured, constructed and experienced through higher education work placements in the creative sector, based on a recent small-scale qualitative study. Drawing on interview data with students, staff and employers, we identify the discourses and practices through which students are produced and produce themselves as neoliberal subjects. We are particularly concerned with which students are excluded in this process. We show how normative evaluations of what makes a ‘successful’ and ‘employable’ student and ‘ideal’ creative worker are implicitly classed, raced and gendered. We argue that work placements operate as a key domain in which inequalities within both higher education and the graduate labour market are (re)produced and sustained. The paper offers some thoughts about how these inequalities might be addressed.     

Regulatory mechanism of self-determination involvement in higher education: assessing Chinese students’ experiences

Investment in higher education facilities in terms of both hardware and software has witnessed significant growth on a yearly basis since the reintroduction of the college entrance examination known as the NMT in 1977. However, a social assessment of graduates’ qualities seems to indicate that the improvement in skill levels and graduates’ general qualities has failed to keep pace with the growth in investment. As a bridge to relate college environment to student gains in learning, student self-determined involvement in educational activities plays an important role in analyzing the educational effects of colleges. Based on a conducted through the survey of Chinese College Student Experience Questionnaire, with data collected from 647 valid respondents, universities can observe and evaluate the levels and quality of students’ involvement in the educational process. The students’ involvement of educational activities can be investigated through data analysis, employing statistical methods of a structural equation model. In observing student involvement in the educational system, it becomes apparent that the students’ capacity for building on and playing a key role in the improvement of the quality of education they receive is largely controlled by their involvement activities in the learning process. In addition, both of the college environment and student motivation have a combined and significant effect on student involvement behaviors. Student involvement can be divided into three gradual but distinct levels (controlled, identified and integrated involvement) in accordance with the varying degrees of internalization. Student involvement will exponentially magnify the positive effects on student gains when colleges invest in new and additional resources, particularly when students become more deeply involved in the educational environment. In addition, when colleges make a concentrated effort to recognize the importance of student involvement, and they encourage and incentivise students to become involved, the college itself will benefit greatly from the improved university environment. This combination of mutually beneficial activity, therefore, represents a virtuous circle of promotion between college and students.