Notions of belonging: First year, first semester higher education students enrolled on business or economics degree programmes

• Most students do seem to develop a sense of belonging by week 7 of semester one.
• 10–15% appear not to have a sense of belonging by week 7 of semester one.
• Active participation in curricular activity is strongly correlated with higher sense of belonging.

This article reports on students' sense of belonging in higher education in the first semester of the first year. The main aim of this study is to measure students' sense of belonging in the context of the university environment across three London universities. Goodenow's (1993) Psychological Sense of School Membership instrument was utilised to collect quantitative data. Analysis of the data suggests that most students do seem to develop a sense of belonging by week 7 of semester one, but a significant minority (10–15%) of students in each institution do not. This report concludes that these students are more likely to have some issues settling in and feeling that they are accepted in the university environment. Unfortunately, experiencing a lack of social integration is a factor that encourages students to leave education. These students may require support if they are to gain a strong sense of belonging to their institution. It is also apparent that active participation in curricular activity is strongly correlated with a higher sense of belonging.