WEEKEND READING: Part One: Belonging is in the eye of the beholder – why we need to think differently about what it means to a diverse student population

This blog was kindly authored by Professor Claire Hamshire, Pro-Vice Chancellor Education, Oxford Brooks University, Dr Emily Mcintosh, Chief Student Officer, Harper Adams University,  Dr Michelle Morgan, Dean of Student, University of East London and Rebecca Page-Tickell, Academic Director for Inclusive Practices, University of East London 

Over the last few years, student belonging has increasingly become a topic of discussion and it is frequently described as a critical factor for student success (Kahu et. al., 2022). However, whilst student belonging is a key goal or success factor for many universities in the UK, it is not uniformly defined. Belonging is used variously in relation to academic success, social integration and student engagement, but it is unclear why exactly it is so important and to whom it is of value (Hamshire et. al., 2025a).

Belonging or mattering?

It is hard to disagree with the concept that all students should believe that they are valued and that they belong at the university of their choice, but across the sector there are differences of understanding around the meaning of ‘belonging’ due to the  word being delployed in such a wide variety of contexts. In some settings, belonging may be measured against institutional priorities or through colleague and student surveys. But for individual students, it is usually expressed through feelings of value, recognition, fitting in and mattering. It is often unclear what belonging is or how it is experienced across a diverse student population within the UK (Hamshire et. al., 2025b). To ‘matter’ is described as feeling that others pay attention to you, and that they care about you (Rosenberg and McCullough, 1981), and as such mattering is different to belonging in the sense that it is felt as perceived value through everyday interactions and relational processes that are vital in higher education (Gravett et.al., 2024). Belonging is also a central outcome, condition, and sustainingforce within McIntosh and May’s (2025) 3 C’s model of co‑creation (community, collaboration and cohesion).

Yet, awarding gap data from across the UK indicates that not all students feel valued or matter equally. Racially diverse students may experience different understandings of belonging, where fitting in may relate to navigating social norms requiring adjusting one’s language, behaviour, appearance, or demeanour to conform to different cultural norms (code-switching), thus creating a climate of (un)belonging (Strayhorn, 2008). Discussions of belonging can further alienate minoritised students as they assume assimilation, whereas a mattering focus prioritises voice, feeling valued and being taken seriously (Rueda and Swift, 2023).  There can be a tension between authentic belonging and varied institutional definitions of belonging and fitting in. 

To move forward, we need to better understand what the goal of enhancing students’ sense of belonging actually is. What is it that students want when they talk about belonging? What’s the value students gain from belonging to an institution? And ultimately, whose concept of belonging are we prioritising? Sometimes, this just isn’t well-defined, and we don’t always understand the social and cultural issues that can lead to students feeling that they don’t belong at an institution. We need to be clear whose voices we are hearing and prioritising within our discussions.

As such, an institutional focus on sense of belonging rather than sense of value or mattering could be a solution to structural or institutional barriers that hinder success for all students. We need to consider whether the concept of belonging has increasingly become emptied of meaning, particularly given its alignment with institutional priorities and not the student-focused feelings of worth, value and mattering.

Is anybody listening?

When we create opportunities to listen to our students, within trustful spaces where they are empowered to share their honest views, they frequently talk about their need to feel valued and that they want to matter to an institution (Connell et al., 2025). So, whose voices need to be heard? We need to hear the quiet voices, those that don’t always seem to get the audience and exposure that they deserve. We can hear these voices both through targeted data collection initiatives and through reviewing our routinely collected data. Listening to those voices, hearing their stories and locating their voices must be central to how we frame our quality enhancement processes and adapt our provision to better meet student needs. This is important in institutions demonstrating that they are valued and that they matter to the university.

This is particularly important for students who experience multiple barriers, such as minority trauma experiences and social disadvantage, who appear to choose silence and writing rather than speaking as a protective mechanism to avoid a sense of alienation and viewing themselves as imposters.

Our understanding improves if we listen to our students and give them time to talk. Sitting and listening remains key to helping us understand what it is to be a student. Understanding the experiences of the users of any service or provision is key to developing and co-creating provision that fosters a sense of mattering. The national pilot of the Course Pre-arrjval Academic Questionnaire,  funded by the Office for Students and led by the University of East London, AdvanceHE and Jisc, is one student voice tool that is helping us obtain an understanding of what mattered to students in their previous study, what helped them settle into their studies and what made them feel valued. .  It is providing powerful insights, including differences between undergraduate and postgraduate students. These will be reported in part two of this two-blog discussion.

A learning journey is an emotional one, and therefore a learning experience at any age cannot simply be measured on a 5-point scale, nor summed up within questions that ask us to report the best and worst of our studies. Student feedback initiatives need to create a trustful space in which students can freely (and at the same time respectfully) share their experiences. By doing so, we need to ensure that we listen to those quiet voices so we can pause and learn, and then by sharing their stories, we can make the right changes to create spaces in which all students feel that they matter and are valued.

We need to consider students’ experiences as multi-faceted – influenced by a wide range of stakeholders and interrelated factors. Therefore, working together in partnership with our students to co-create provision and enhance student engagement is vital. This includes considering of both on-campus and online experiences, timetabling, buildings and outside spaces. This approach can be used to co-create actions and build trust in the cultural changes needed for all students to feel that they matter.

Fundamentally, we need to consider how we create a sense of trust and a sense of mattering, as well as belonging, for our students so that they feel that they are seen, heard and valued within the institution. We have come a long way, but we still have a way to go and need to bridge the divides of perception and lack of knowledge, with facts, openness and support.