## Metadata - Author: bci-hub.org - Full Title: 2022WELL001 - The Lonely Campus Report St1 - URL: https://bci-hub.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/2022WELL001%20-%20The%20Lonely%20Campus%20Report%20St1.pdf - Date: 2024-03-15 ## Summary The report "The Lonely Campus? An Exploration of Student Loneliness in UK Higher Education" examines student loneliness at University of Exeter campuses. It discusses the impact of university structures, the challenge of being authentic, and connections to the wider community. The report also provides recommendations for addressing and mitigating student loneliness. ## Highlights - In a 2017 survey by Soxedo, for example, 46% of UK university students admitted to experiencing loneliness at university, compared to 32% of students in the rest of the world2. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1eq05q8xxzwkkjv5dtnw2w)) - ==university infrastructure (such as the university year structure), built environment, and accommodation create certain expectations of how student life should progress which, when unfulfilled, create further loneliness==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1exxm5jext19ednha9x3cf)) - expressed a desire to feel more connected to civic and community societies and activities that could help them feel more linked to life beyond the university in Exeter. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1eyf3g7chx1ffy7tp3xzpr)) - possibly due to the number of transitions faced by young people during adolescence and young adulthood3 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1eqg10j4a56mzqc3bkpjr2)) - First, students report the need to be authentic with themselves and with other students. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1er6cm9vf4452y4sken7sz)) - encouraging them to feel responsible for each other’s inclusion. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1f1rzmjhjqamaktgj7w2qm)) - The ‘Hack Your Halls’ initiative was pioneered by the Loneliness Lab with London College of Communication students. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1f0v0vbbafje4nprf0j5gv)) - role of social media in fuelling this anxiety was particularly highlighted: ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1fkzgrwj1w97p9f307dvr4)) - Some of the students in this study were not necessarily looking for a comprehensive counselling or therapy service from Wellbeing, but rather an empathetic ear or a lasting, reciprocal friendship – somebody who might engage with experiences where, as one student put it, ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1fxqszvf9ekqqgaesw79jm)) - Note: Different type of loneliness- emotional loneliness - students circulate a number of implicit and explicit narratives of social life and relationships, which are weighted with expectations for success and apprehensions of failure. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1fzs1j944skvmgv30jcmqa)) - ==students respond emotionally to the built environment of the campus, with a strong preference for safe green spaces, and feelings of alienation in places and spaces that are experienced as impersonal==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs1g05jd4bbp8n116z7p1pp6)) - It would also be desirable to study the similarities and differences in experiences of loneliness across student transitions at university, throughout the undergraduate lifecycle, taught and research postgraduate, but also among early career academics (broadly interpreted) on precarious contracts. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hs4sgvhhn6g1sffzcybrjr08))