This is a report drawing upon the research carried out for the 'Student Sense of Belonging' project, a collaboration between researchers in London Universities interested in the first year experience. This report provides interim observations with reference to a three-university study into the implications of students’ sense of belonging in UK tertiary education. The study employs a survey measurement based on the Psychological Sense of School Membership (Goodenow, 1993), which was administered to over 1,300 first-year, first-semester students. To enrich the survey data, descriptions related to the ‘sense of belonging’ phenomenon were recorded via the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (Wengraf, 2007) and will be subject to further analysis via this method in later stages of the project. Initial findings include emergent themes and practice-based opportunities to increase students’ sense of belonging. Appendix A (p 10 onwards) will be of interest to those seeking international student views on the induction process.

1. ‘My Ideal First Day’
Implications for induction from a three (London) university project
This report summarises the data from two questions from the data gathered, and focuses on the
student induction experiences.
The two open ended questions on the questionnaire:
3.15 What did you like most about [your first 6 weeks]?
3.16 What did you like least [about your first 6 weeks]?
And the final question from the interviews:
Looking back, what would your ‘ideal’ first day at University be like?
Project Implications for Induction
Emergent themes identified include:
Early socialisation appears to be important
Difficulties in the development of personal identity within the university environment may
influence a student’s self-concept of being an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’
High value placed on the quality of staff-student engagement both within and outside the
classroom
Functioning in groups, both formally and informally appears to be significant
Branded materials creates and increases a sense of student identity and belonging
Internationalisation - induction activities need to be informed by the cultural and
demographic backgrounds of the student body.
Consideration for diversitysuch as disability, gender and age
Good practice from the three institutions include:
Welcoming and meaningful pre course contact
Social activities such as icebreakers, staff interaction both formal and informal
Early movement into teaching groups
Learning names
Inductions to all areas eg VLE, library, careers, student services
Expert staff both tohostdebates and speak about themes in disciplines
Expectation management
Avoid Information overload
Introduce student charter
Scheduled and regular post induction/late induction information
Academic skills as well as time management, stress management
Please see Appendix A for extracts from student interviewees on ‘My ideal day’

2. Background:
LondonMetropolitanUniversity, WestminsterUniversity and QueenMaryUniversity have been
working on ‘student belonging’,a collaborative research project, partially funded by the
HigherEducationAcademy. The Student Belonging Project has its origins in the Black and Ethnic
Minority studies carried out at London Metropolitan University Business School, the PSSM
psychological tool used for profiling and measuring students’ sense of belonging in the USA and the
interest of colleagues at Westminster University who were seeking to engage students on a huge
first year module with their studies.
Our study explores the effectiveness of different initiatives/practices for student induction within
the three different institutions and their impact on students’ sense of belonging using a
measurement of belonging, thePsychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM),
(Goodenow,1993) instrument as a benchmark. The project adopted a cross-institutional approach
with a view to developing an informed understanding of whether differences in institutional
characteristics, curriculum design and students’ background are determining factors in the
development of the sense of belonging. Research carried out at LondonMetropolitanUniversity
shows the positive impact of curriculum initiatives on retention and attainment in first year
undergraduates (Johnson et al 2009). A QueenMaryUniversity pilot in the summer of 2009 utilised
the PSSM instrument and semi structured interviews to measure sense of belonging among
undergraduate economics students. Westminster Business School has also addressed this issue in its
curriculum redesign starting 2011/12.
Methodology:
A literature review was undertaken to identify the key themes in the literature. The review covered
literature in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, USA, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand
and provided a foundation of knowledge from a range of peer reviewed texts. Consideration of the
interrelated themes informed and supported the research strategy. Evaluation of the themes
provided insights and further understanding of the specified research area of ‘students’ sense of
belonging in higher education’. The overview allowed context specific discussions from the
perspective of institutional research, and the formulation of further research proposals.
A mixed method approach was adopted using both quantitative and qualitative data. A
questionnaire was drawn up informed by the Goodenow PSSM (1993) instrument and the Australian
National Student Survey. The questionnaire was conducted with first year, first semester students
during weeks 6 and 7 of the first semester 2010/11. A sample of 1346 students from across the 3
universities (London Met, Westminster and Queen Mary) completed the questionnaire. An obvious
caveat is that only students attending seminar classes in those weeks completed the questionnaire.
The survey was supplemented by selected interviews with students from each of the three
institutions, drawing upon research interviews interpreted within a qualitative tradition of ‘cultural
stories’ (cf Miller and Glassner 1997). We were interested in how students narrate their experiences
of belonging, the meaning they ascribe to their narrations and the insights these can offer our
emerging understanding into the factors impacting on a student sense of belonging. Biographic
Narrative Interpretative Method (BNIM) draws upon both German and to some extent US schools of
thought from the early 20th
century. The method has been successfully used to draw out the
“stories” or narratives from interviewee’s lives (Wengraf 2001). What is of interest to the researcher
is what the interviewee selects to share, and the way in which their individual story is portrayed. The
interview is structured such that the interviewee has the time and space to develop their narrative
contribution. The interview transcripts are then interpreted through separate analyses of the living

3. of the ‘lived life’ and the ‘telling of the told story’ that are then brought together and their
connections explored. Following Wengraf (2007) each institution selected three interviewees; three
sets of rich data offer a complex and nuanced set of interpretations and avoids over simplistic
‘compare and contrast’ when two interviews transcriptions are analysed.
The primary aim of the project is to identify some simple first steps from day 1 to emphasise the
importance of promoting a sense of identity and a sense of belonging within the School and the
wider university community.
Participating University Research Interests:
LondonMetropolitanUniversity: Involving students in extra curricula activities
Work by Johnson and Pokorny (2009) indicated that students who get involved in extra curricular
activities are more likely to perform well and stay within the university without ‘dropping out’. Their
study showed that students from a Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) background were most likely to
perform poorly, and their engagement outside the classroom was mainly within their community
groups.
QueenMaryUniversity: A tool for identifying issues
At Queen Mary, the School of Economics and Finance’s focus on research led to an under-estimation
of the importance of the student’s learning experience. Over time, a gradual deterioration of the
staff-students relationship took place. Often students would find it difficult to engage with the
School to discuss teaching and learning issues. Over time, frustration led to disaffection and to a
reduced sense of belonging.
WestminsterUniversity: Concerns about mass modules
WestminsterBusinessSchool has been rolling out a new suite of integrated first year modules of up
to 1000 students. The School Director for Learning, Teaching and Quality Enhancement had concerns
with issues related to student retention and how the move to ‘mega’modules may affect this.
AngliaRuskinUniversity: Building upon current good practice for induction
Dr Debbie Holley (formerly from London Met and now at ARU) is the lead biographic researcher on
the Student Belonging Project, and has been part of the project team taking the work forward. The
detailed analysis and student profiling would be of interest in the Department of Education, in terms
of informing induction processes and procedures.
Statistical tables: Open question on what students liked/disliked most/least by week 7 across 3
universities
The questionnaire asked students to give an indication of what has given them the most and least
enjoyment since joining University. The vast majority of the students took the opportunity to briefly
express their views and the tables below provide a rough summary of the main issues raised by the
students.
An analysis of the students’ responses allows the identification of five ‘broad’ categories to describe
the main reasons for the enjoyment with their studies:

4. Figure 1: the students’ enjoyment of their studies can be summarized into five broad categories
For a number of students London represents a new and exciting experience and studying in such a
diverse and international city represents a source of enjoyment for many.
Social interaction is a key determinant of the students’ experience at University. This has been
expressed in various forms by the students and the broad category ‘social interaction’ includes a
number of different aspects/facets that are summarized below:
Social interaction
Group/team work
Meeting new people/friends/from different countries/different background
Having fun with friends and lectures
Meeting different cultures
Social events and the night life
Freshers/induction week
Getting involved in Societies
The learning experience is another source of enjoyment for many students: the ability tolearn about
a new subject, engage with motivated and friendly lecturers and, more generally, just being an
undergraduate student are some of the main drivers of students’ enjoyment. A more detailed
account of the factors mentioned by students is summarized below:
Learning experience
Learning about the subject/new skills/new culture
Studying at University/Improve my knowledge
Interaction with good/friendly/relaxed teachers
Ability to improve knowledge of English language
The student life
Writing essays
Hands on activities/case studies

5. Other people work hard and it has pushed me to work hard
Attending seminars
Relate more with my lecturers than it is possible in my own country
The library resources
The ability to learn some specific subjects such as fashion or marketing is a source of enjoyment for
many students. Moreover, the requirement of taking ownership of their own learning, i.e. of
becoming a more independent learner is mentioned by a number of students as a source of
enjoyment and satisfaction.
There are a rather diverse set of factors that can negatively affect the student’s experience in
particular in the early stages of their life at University. It is possible to broadly group these factors
into five categories whose relative importance, in terms of frequency of mention, is shown in figure
2:
Figure 2: broad categories of factors negatively affecting the students’ early experience at
University
For many students travelling is costly in various ways: either in terms of distance and time lost
travelling, pure monetary cost or just the hassle of having to deal with public transport.
Engagement with lecturers is key in particular in the early period of the students’ experience at
University. Friendly and supportive yet firm and fair lecturers can help speed the process of settling
down and develop in students a greater sense of acceptance and fit. The main concerns expressed
by students is summarised below:
Engagement with lecturers
Lecturers are not supportive
Lecturers show a lack of knowledge of the subject
Classes are large and lecturers cannot know everybody
Poor teaching

6. Feeling teachers are not interested in your personal development
Seminar tutors not very helpful/respectful
One of the challenging aspects of University life is to learn to cope with a new and demanding
learning environment. Many students raise various concerns about their engagement with studying
at University. Some of the issues raised by students is summarised as follows:
Learning experience
Poor timetable/Long gaps between lectures and seminars
Early start
Difficult/easy/boring seminars
Challenge of having to speaking front of other students
Being prevented from attending lectures/seminars because of debt
To give presentations is challenging
Heavy workload
To work in group is difficult
Issues related to the use of the VLE (Blackboard)
Students put a lot of positive value on the interaction with their peers both inside and outside the
classroom. Inside the classroom they dislike immature and noisy behavior as well as the lack of
attendance to lectures and classes by fellow students.
A ‘hidden’ cost in the process of students’ settlement into University life is the engagement with
either an inefficient or confusing or unhelpful administration. These inefficiencies manifest
themselves in various forms and are highlighted by students as:
Administrative issues
Administration/Unhelpful/Disorganised administration
General organisation of University
Getting lost around campus
Lack of communication about cancellations or changes of timetable
The short comments from students are useful in identifying strategies that can help them settle in
more quickly and develop a strong sense of belonging:
Foster socialisation among students through social events, games, ice-breakers, virtual social
networks etc.;
Make staff aware of the important role they play in establishing friendly, supportive, fair and
firm relationships with the students inside and outside the classroom;
Connect with the students’ excitement and interest for their subject by offering engaging
activities such as high-profile talks, involvement in research projects, etc.;
Appreciate the transition costs that students face when confronted with a new learning
environment and support them in enhancing their communication, presentation skills etc.;
Appreciate that the cost of administrative failures has an impact on the students’ perception of
their learning experience and will have an impact on students’ surveys of the quality of their
education.
Three key issues come through:
unfriendly/ disinterested teaching staff;

7. administration issues, and
students struggling to cope with their work.
Question 3.15 What did you like most so far?
Groupings from student responses:
London factor
Social interaction
Learning experience
Subject specific interest
Being independent
400 students cited meeting new people/friends/from different cultures
Excitement around meeting lecturers, writing essays, their subject material
The London Factor significant
Question 3.16 What did you dislike the most so far?
Groupings from student responses:
Travelling, cost of travel, public transport, travel time
Halls of residence
Engagement with teachers
Teaching and Learning
Social
Issues raised and response
1. Poor timetabling between lectures and seminars, early starts, barred for debt: there is a need to
manage student expectations as part of induction.
2. Encourage a culture of study groups of friends, peer support, not studying in isolation: students
still need to develop a sense of independence and to pick up and run with their own academic
agenda.
3. Engagement with teachers; lack of knowledge; poor teaching; feeling teachers are not interested
in your personal development; they don’t know my name; main lecturer is fine, seminar tutor is not
interested in me: strategies are required to improve knowledge of the students, e.g. students can
bring in 4 passport photos and give one to each seminar tutor.
4. Work pattern is not to their liking; no consistent pattern but certain areas – groupwork, talking in
front of class, heavy workload, difficult or easy or boring seminars: quality of inductions need to be
improved; staff could do more to help students work in groups, help manage deadlines, but an issue
with groupwork is that it is such high stake/risk in terms of assessment.
5. Administration staff are unhelpful and the lack of organization is especially frustrating, cost of
arriving if a class is cancelled…
6. Teaching and ‘friendly’ staff – there are important issues here, for example internationalisation
and diversity issues in terms of student engagement: student focus groups can help to unpack

8. exactly what is meant by staff being unfriendly/unhelpful. Is there an issue about sense of belonging
for staff as well? Or about staff not knowing how to engage with a different, more diverse and tech
savvy generation of students?
Issues arising from interviews:
This blackboard thing
“also the blackboard thing, it was a real struggle, I didn’t know what they were
talking about OK what’s that! Blackboard, so they should put an example, maybe
just show how to use it.”Extract: Student DD
Individual talk/induction
“There are things like sometimes you feel so detached from your lecturers and
tutors not that sort of one to one, it’s not as good as it should be.I don’t know if
the tutors, the personal tutors have a lot of student to deal with but there should
be that sort of one to one to find out how you are progressing and all that.”
Extract: Student DC
A facebook page so I can contact other students even although I can’t be there on the day
“Probably give the opportunity of people to look up each other maybe later on, like
a facebook thing or something so people could find each other. Yes because I met
some people at the induction day, we had a talk and this and that, but we haven’t
been able to find each other later on.”Extract: Student JB
Students want all the cohort and all the staff to attend the social events
“yes it would be nice if more of the tutors that we are going to see throughout the
semester coming to the induction, not just a few…spend more time with them and
have some interaction with them so you would remember it.” Extract: Student JB
Current Institutional Induction practices:
London Metropolitan University Business School (LMBS)
Pre welcome pages with ‘tasks to do’
opening page:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/londonmet/lmbs/pre-welcome-week/home.cfm
BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/londonmet/lmbs/pre-welcome-week/ba-acctg/ba-acctg_home.cfm
MA International Hotel and Restaurant Management:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/londonmet/lmbs/pre-welcome-week/ma-ihrg/ma-ihrg_home.cfm
(BA (Hons) Business Management):
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/lmbs/pre-welcome-week/ba-bm/home.cfm
Students really liked the staff photo and short profile of staff on their courses. More adventurous
course leaders uploaded video clips, had links to team members’ books, images and so on.

9. Students are asked to research what makes a good business leader based on business leaders from
various ethnicities, especially those with humble beginnings. Twelve leaders are profiled and if the
student’s birthday is in January, they looked up Anita Roddick, February - Levi Roots, and so on.
More pre-welcome tasks scheduled and a new marketing initiative involving a campaign for
February starters – students were offered places in February and there were concerns
regarding‘hanging around’. Thus, February starters did a 2-day week minus-2; a 3-day week minus-1
and a 5-day welcome week. This was not popular with students who tended to work up until the
week prior to their course commencing.
There is a drive to incorporate more social activities in inductions, and a budget of £10,000 was set
aside for various initiatives, such as hiring a boat,etc; however central ideas and local delivery were
problematic. A competition was suggested and only 20 students and very few staff turned up for the
boat trip. The result was that more funding was poured into inductions: the course leader can
choose an activity choice of Madame Tussauds, the London Eye or a boat trip. Centrally organised
inductions tended to consist of Powerpoints/talks, and were not popular. While inductions are still
being centrally organized, there is a real need to include local staff with delivery far earlier in the
process.
Westminster
At Westminster the induction is over a 5-day period, and this is organised by school, not by site. It is
plagued with technical problems such as registering students, taking photos and entering data. The
system crashed last year and was out of use for several hours.Because of sheer numbers involved,
the induction process can be overwhelming for the students. However, this is ameliorated by the
students getting placed into ‘cohort’ groups of 25 straight away and they remain in those for the
whole of the first year.
Queen Mary
In past years, induction was limited to a 30-minute welcome from the Head of School followed by a
meeting with the academic advisors. Since 2008, the induction programme has been restructured
and it is now built over 3 days (Wednesday/Thursday/Friday). Induction is organized by the senior
tutor in collaboration with the School’s Student Support Manager and with support from student
helpers (year 2 and 3 students who voluntarily give up their time to help the School in its initiatives).
The student helpers also become ‘buddies’ for the first year students during their first semester at
University. The format is as follows:
Wednesday: welcome talk (about one hour) by the Head of School; presentation of the UG team,
talk by the Senior Tutor and the Student Support Manager. The talk ends with a discussion with
students about the expectations (staff and students) of studying at University .After the talk, the
students meet with their academic advisors (each advisor has about five to ten students per year of
study). These are welcoming meetings during which the programme of study is approved. After the
meeting with advisors the students are invited to a lunch that is attended by all School members.
During lunch an icebreaker is organized (find someone who can swim/has an iPad/lecturer who
teaches xyz). Enrollment follows at the end of the day.
Thursday: the students are divided into small groups and the student helpers take the groups for a
campus tour. Students then attend a compulsory diagnostic mathematics test. The test results are
discussed by the mathematics lecturer in the first mathematics lecture. Students who perform
poorly in the test are asked to attend support classes during the semester.

10. Friday: there are brief talks by the library, careers, the societies, students union and the coordinator
of the Peer Assisted Support Scheme (a mentoring scheme to support year 1 students).The ‘trade
game’ is played afterwards. The game is educational and its outcomes are discussed at the end with
all students.
Welcome back talks for year 2 and year 3 students are also organized. These usually last one hour
and are followed by meetings with the academic advisors.
Induction in 2012/3
This year the induction period is extended from three to five days to reflect the importance of
induction on the student body.
The new and extended programme now includes:
Extra and longer sessions for careers and libraries;
On Thursday, a talk by a member of staff about a topical economic issue or, alternatively, a
debate where two academics discuss current economic events;
o Queen Mary would like to explore the University of Amsterdam approach – a sofa in the
Atrium and every week, there is a talk or debate about current issues in an open
space/forum.
o Instead of student personal tutors in their offices, a large space is used with teas and
coffees for a welcome week, once in semester A and once in semester B.
Story telling activity: on the Monday of induction week students are divided into small groups
and are asked to investigate through pictures or videos any economic issue of their interest in
the area around the University. On the Friday of induction week the students are asked to give
short presentations of their work. The best pieces of work receive a small prize.
Additional activities that will be introduced this year include: getting in touch with students
before they come to University and also strengthening induction for latecomers.
Broader Issues:
University Email Accounts: getting students to read them. At Queen Mary, staff will not answer
student emails from a non-university account.
One question the project team has considered is whether activities should be designed to orient the
students in the environment where they will be studying. Importantly, students should be consulted
to avoid the tendency to ‘assume’ (see appendix A for extracts from student interviews).
Two of three Universities want classes suspended in week 7 to talk about careers and have personal
tutorials, but often students do not attend these sessions. Students frequently ask for more pastoral
care.
Report drafted by Debbie Holley (Anglia Ruskin) and Guglielmo Volpe (Queen Mary) with
project members
Susanne Kane Linda Johnson, Myrtle Emmanual, RonkeShoderu (LMBS)
Debbi Husbands and David Chalcraft (Westminster)

11. Appendix A
‘My ideal day’
I’m going to ask you a final question. Imagine the first day at university, so new students, and if
you were going to design that day, what would it be like?
First day at university, you mean like after the enrolment and everything? I think I would have, it’s
like this lecture that I had today, I would put it somewhere at the beginning because it makes you –
it’s clear to you what you are going to do in the future, what modules, what you are going to study.
Because at the beginning – and also they should have the lecture maybe should include some stuff
how does it work about all the CA1 form, you can attach it to, every coursework you are going to
submit, where is that and how. And maybe having a tour of the university. And that competition
thing, that was a good thing, so I would definitely include it because you get to know people around
you. I think that’s about it, because you don’t want to bore them, so just keep it simple and just tell
them the basic things they should know about studying at xxxxx, it’s about how everything works,
the coursework stuff. And they have seminars, they have lectures, deadlines we have to meet. Also
the blackboard thing it was a real struggle, I didn’t know what they were talking about OK, what’s
that! Blackboard, so they should put an example maybe just show how to use it. That’s how I would
do it.
Extract: Student 1
. ..Tell me a little bit more about what you think that could be.
Something to shock. It could be anything really. Make it more like, well when you’re starting uni it’s
momentous for you, but for everyone it’s just a normal day. But if it was more like a presentation, hi
everyone, hi, how are you doing, a big show in a way. Not something to cheapen it because then
you feel like you’re going to the circus. But for me, something that would shock or just grab your
attention. Someone charismatic, I find that when somebody’s talking to me, and they really have
this energy in their voice, it comes to me as well. So it’s as if they’re taking you along on what you’re
doing. So when you feel that you’ve gone to a presentation or a lecture and you feel that wow, I
actually followed what he’s talking about and in a way he’s a bit cool, it gives me something to talk
about. If I go to a lecture and I know it’s been a really good lecture, the next person I see I will tell
them hey, I went to a really good lecture, do you want to know what it was about? And that gives us
something to talk about. We had this law lecturer and we always used to think OK lecturers always
stand at the front and just talk and go. But then he started walking up and down and then it was –
oh! Is he a lecturer, are you sure? He’s just come in and just taken over. But it was just out of the
ordinary, something that makes you feel more comfortable that OK this isn’t too strict, just let your
guard down a bit and relax. And then just go with it. So in a way, even though our lecturer, he isn’t
actually shocking us, he isn’t taking all his clothes off and running up and down but it’s just
something out of the ordinary, not just boring, that would be really good. Even our seminar teacher
she’s a bit strange sometimes but she’s different and I like her for that.
Because I think the academic stuff literally just started the day after but academic can be what the
course is about. There has to be that, you can’t just have fun and then you realise OK, [inaudible]
then you forget. But the one we had was quite good but it just seemed a bit too stringent if that is
the proper word. It just seemed like really formal, you just sit there, they tell you what the module’s
about. You don’t understand what they’re talking about and you want to ask a question but you
know that you don’t make sense because you don’t understand what they’ve said. So you just sit
there, you go to the freshers, have a bit of fun and then just go with your bag full of freebies. If they
made it – the rooms here are smaller so it’s harder to do a lot more. But if the classes are a bit small

12. it makes it easier for everyone to know each other. So you can talk to other people and if it was just
in smaller groups of people doing the induction, it would have been a lot nicer.
Even the tour, we did a tour and I remember them taking us through the library and the group was
so large that when they were talking we couldn't actually hear anything. So it’s as if we were just
walking ten yards, stopping, couldn't hear anything, just looked around. And then walked around so
I mean, it wasn’t her fault, she wasn’t really the loudest speaker but you didn’t know. And then in
the end, we had to do the whole tour of the library again, I still don’t know how some things work.
Like the printers, I remember thinking they were touch screen and pressing the screen and
everyone’s looking at me like I was demented. But you get the hang of it, when push comes to
shove and you need to print your work before the deadlines. You learn how to do it really quickly.
Extract: Student 2
Suppose that we go back to the first day of university and the question is, if you could design that
day, what would be the perfect day for you? So you’ve just come to university, first day, could be
induction.
Getting to meet people that – everyone’s shy and everyone’s [inaudible] I’m mature now. And as
you go along you learn, I’ve learnt this, as you go older, it’s like – some kind of plateau, I read up on
[inaudible]. As you grow older, you become more defensive against other people , new people.
Now if you have, [inaudible] everyone just meeting each other and getting to know each other, five
minutes each, everyone’s getting to know each other. Give them a bit more space, understand each
other, it’s more fun. And then having like trips and not compulsory, there’s no such thing as
compulsory but trips like the whole economics just first year, they need to go on that trip and you all
have to – like you announce it in every lecture. And everyone will go. It’s like you just give them
that little boost because they remember. It’s like I’ve met some people like I met someone on
Thursday, I met a friend on Thursday from economics, the year group, and that person said how
come we never spoke before? And that person was like – because when we started university, I
went into that little group. Now I can’t break out of that group, the people [inaudible]. [inaudible]
an aspect of that, me you see that I float around everyone, I’m just everywhere. I don’t keep my
guards up, I walk around, hello, are you OK? I just walk around, that’s how it’s got to be, that’s how I
see it. But some people, they’re just restricted to who they can talk with and relax and be
themselves with.
Extract: Student 3
Yes, sure. I mean – yes, I just think that being the first day, the perfect first day would be this kind of
thing, this feeling that wow, I’m going to learn a lot, everyone is sharing the same feeling, it’s going
to be a new life. Going to be three years with new experiences and everything and just ……..first
day.
Extract: Student 4
Well we’ve just got one final question that we ask everybody. So, you mentioned the induction
day at the first day at university, and we’d like to know really from everybody if they could design
their first day for new students at university, what would it be like?
Well definitely be pretty much like it was our induction day, get all the students from the same
programme together. Have more of those socialising games, to get everybody to know each other.
Probably give the opportunity of people to look up each other maybe later on, like a Facebook thing
or something, so people could find each other. Yes, because I met some people at the induction day
and we had a talk and this and that, but we haven't been able to find each other later on. If there
was a side with for example all the students that are on that programme and they could

13. communicate with each other or something like that. That would be interesting. And yes, make it
interactive, more socialising between the students. Give information about the different
departments and who to ask for what in the university, which was done in our induction. Basically
we were introduced to the module leader and advisors and some of the tutors. So yes, getting to
know the people that we are going to be dealing with throughout the semester, that’s nice to see
the people and to have their contacts. Yes, that’s, the induction was I think very well organised and
yes, pretty much what I want to see.
Well, the major staff was presented, I would say and they had their e-mails and phone numbers and
room numbers so that went quite well. Yes, it would be nice if more of the tutors that we are going
to see throughout the semester coming to the induction, not just a few. It would be nice to see
more of them and maybe spend more time with them and have some interaction with them so you
would remember it, yes. Maybe have hand-outs, each tutor to have some hand-outs with contact
details and basic information about the course. I know that all that could be found on the website
probably but yes it would be interesting to have some interaction on the day…
Extract: Student5
So what would your ‘ideal’ first day be like?
It would be similar to the day I had when I got here because clearly, when you go to a new place you
need to be talked to about how the environment is, how you need to behave and what you need to
do when you get there. Definitely it was all here when I got here, the first lecturer was all about
introduction to different lectures, introduction to different module leaders. I had an idea, I had a
basic understanding of what was going on here. Maybe improve the team working exercises just to
get the students to be involved because I realised when we were all sitting there, not everyone was
really interested after an hour because people felt bored and tired. So maybe just to get us into
doing different activities, that would definitely keep us active, the new students coming up. And I
think that would be a slight change. The one we did was excellent but maybe one more ……. And
also, the awards they gave were very good because the people who had the highest mark, they got
to receive vouchers to go to the canteen to actually have discounts on food. That was really good,
that was really good.
Extract: Student 6
And if you were to design your perfect first day?
I think if I was to design the perfect first day at university I would rather do it on a departmental
basis, rather than a whole, select the business, the whole business thing is too big. Maybe I would
get two departments on each day that sort of thing. Speak to them in detail, don’t rush it through.
If maybe we could give an extra two weeks to help the sort of induction process, if that helps to help
students settle in then why not, that’s something I would suggest personally.
The first day I would make it as welcoming as possible and sort of leave the serious things towards
the end, start with what we normally call them ice breakers, try and relax the person. Feel that once
we’ve got you, you’re like okay line up here, it was just too much. And when you get in there like
okay this cause is so.. uni it’s difficult, it’s up to you on your own, and you’re like oh my god this is
really serious. I know it is serious but obviously by the time you went through the application
process it’s rigorous enough to know that you want to be here. But when you get here you want to
get some sort of reassurance that oh this is it, this is how it is. Just like when you got your new job I
am sure the best thing that you always remember is your induction, you never forget your induction,
no matter how long you’ve been in that company. I think that should always be got right.
Extract: Student 7