The COVID-19 Pandemic has ushered in significant challenges for supporting community and belonging in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). This paper seeks to provide key recommendations to strengthen such activity, through a critical evaluation of a set of innovative community and belonging enhancement projects undertaken in a modern Scottish…

Higher education has long known the many challenges facing Black students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) leading to lower Black student retention rates relative to their White peers. One factor contributing to retention rates among Black students at PWIs is their sense of belonging. There are many factors that contribute to a sense of…

This quantitative study investigated the impact of campus climate on the ethnic identity development and sense of belonging among Middle Eastern and North African/Southwest Asian and North African (MENA/SWANA) college students. This student population has largely been absent from research due to their classification as White in the U.S. Census and…

A sense of belonging is at the root of educational success for students, staff and faculty, and institutions alike. The authors must consider these layers (student, faculty/staff, institution) in coordination with each other, taking a systems view, to support long-term, sustainable success. The authors provide a framework for thinking about…

Multiracial youth are one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States. What messages might these multiracial young people be receiving about multiraciality in college-related television series? Applying Critical Race Media Literacy and Critical Multiracial Theory (MultiCrit), this study examines representations of multiracial students…

This case study examines reciprocal mentoring in a community-based program (CBP) serving immigrant Latino families with school-aged children. University student volunteers shared technological and college knowledge and grew in leadership skills. Simultaneously, they gained familial and cultural support and belonging from program families. The CBP…

Purpose of this study was to identify factors contributing to the successful group performance from the perspective of business students. The in-depth interview was done followed by a survey derived forty-five items variables, after some tests 21 items variables removed due to low item remainder coefficient resulted in 24 items questionnaires. A…

This article offers a rethinking of a fundamental area of higher education research and practice: the concept of belonging. Extending the considerable international research attending to belonging, we suggest that normative narratives often contain a number of omissions. Such omissions include a consideration of the experiences of those students…

This study focuses on the ethical foundations of learning in virtual environments and identifies the ethical values perceived by university students and faculty in the learning process. We analyzed 235 participants, including students from different Spanish-speaking countries and virtual education teachers, and employed a design-based research…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted education provision worldwide. In Australia, the government took a proactive stance to reduce the impact of the pandemic, temporarily banning higher education students from attending university campuses. With a lockdown in place, educational institutions required a rapid shift in approaches to teaching and learning…

Disruption to the status quo in education erupted from a worldwide pandemic in 2020. COVID-19 pushed university teaching to emergency online teaching. This disruption intersected with a national and international call for racial justice in the US and internationally. Challenges and new learnings emerged as teacher and learners worked to co-create…

This study investigates sense of belonging among a contemporary cohort (n=533) of students living in a learning community at three different college campuses. Preliminary data analysis indicates students' background characteristics and college experiences explained 57.7% of the variance in students' sense of belonging to their respective college…

This study examines campus organization involvement as a mechanism for social capital development. Researchers used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine variations in network size, strength, and composition for international students involved in different types of campus organizations. The researchers also examined the relationship of campus…

This article describes how a Teacher Educator teaches her university students (pre-service teachers) about belonging; how it feels to belong to a group, why they need to spend their time and energy during the school day working to make K-12 students feel that they belong, what belonging looks like, and how to make it happen in the pre-service…

Higher education research suggests that the development of a sense of belonging is key to academic success and persistence, yet we know little about how first-year students with disabilities develop a sense of belonging as they transition into and through their first year in postsecondary environments. Themes from a grounded theory study of 8…