[Wonkhe Webinar](https://wonkhe.zoom.us/rec/play/nYiJcNq-amACLbFD9NIUs7cLtnPmwA9HY4T-unBReBhee0QK-qa_bFBnF3f6BIqSongcvcZcgKylphVd.tq_Ec_omnsAsufYh?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwonkhe.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FIT4kr901xffBxBMnooJPYEZMr-1IK80loGkUhXpiLFPGUFxSVw7kun4jim22Qyqc.tYgCFJqXtq23CcsL)
[Slides](https://wonkhe.com/wp-content/wonkhe-uploads/2024/03/The-latest-on-loneliness-belonging-and-student-activities.pdf)
## Background
- UPP and Public First, and Cibyl
- Report 2 years on
- 1st was about covid, mental health and
- Some interesting stuff on the site about disabled students
- Poll of 1682 students in November 2023
## Loneliness
- Predicted links to other areas of the survey? Analysis
- Stats
- 12% of students agree they are lonely at university
- 32% somewhat agree
- 21% neither
- 22% somewhat disagree
- 13% Strongly disagree
- So 44% in total. Maybe returned to 2019 rates.
- Loneliness strongly associated with
- Mental health
- completion rates
- Satisfaction
- ==Assessment and feedback==
- Who is more or less likely to say they are lonely?
- Disabled most likely. Also UG and low socio-economic background 2nd and 3rd most likely.
- Remember that disabled students is a huge chunk of the student population.
- Black have lowest level of loneliness. Consistent in polling. Perception difference? Or able to find each other at Uni? Clustering effect on some programmes
- Mature students have less expectation of being able to network
- RAISE network on student engagement - published toolkit on belonging
- Loneliness and belonging closely associated. 84% of students who say they belong are not lonely, vs 48% who are lonely.
- Loneliness and happiness closely associated. 78% of students who say they are happy are not lonely, vs 36% who are lonely.
- Loneliness and preparedness from the world of work associated. 60% of those who say they are prepared are not lonely vs 39% who are lonely.
- Loneliness and place of living are associated. 6 in 10 who stay in halls. Half of those who live in private flat/ house. Current housing strategy is to put people in Halls.
- Loneliness and assessment satisfaction association- reported separately
- Loneliness and mental health are associated. 10% of those who are not lonely have had mental health affected negatively. So 90% of those who have mental health affected positively are not lonely.
- Loneliness and welcome week. Those who say they are lonely 53% said they didn't have a welcome week. But not that much difference, and rates of loneliness are lower in those who didn't have one.
- Welcome not delivering friends and classmates? In at the deep end stuff happening too much.
- Link between extracurricular activities and belonging. Tells its own story:
![[Screenshot 2024-03-15 at 13.44.17.png]]
- What would help you feel more connected?
- Students who say they are not lonely:
- More time on campus
- Socials with other students
- Freshers
- Extracurriculars
- Faculty/ dept events.
- Those who say that they are lonely give the same answers in terms of popularity of interventions.
- 'Very lonely' students also say the same. But caution with sample size
## Reasons for lack of engagement. Top 7. All important
- Lack of interest. related to transactional attitude to the course.
- Information and access. Difficulty accessing extracurricular. Also marketing/ comms.
- Health and disability. Physical injuries or conditions. Mental ill-health. Meet diverse health requirements
- Financial: costs associated with joining activities. Not joining fees but ongoing costs- travel costs. How that intersects with part time work.
- Logistical: clashes, location, coursework, part time jobs.
- Social and cultural: ethnicity, cultural background, age, personal interests. APP issues. Social dynamics such as risky behaviours and drinking. Maybe we need more than one type of team
- Indian horseriding society as well as the horseriding society.
- Anxiety. Fear of joining in. Being judged. Large events. Deep end.
- Anxiety is still really high.
- Need shallow-end events that say things like "if you come on your own we will put you in a team with other people"
- How do we scaffold for this? Needs to feel small. Goes against massification.
## Conclusions
- Need to address anxiety through 'shallow-end' events and comms
- Social Mentoring programmes- see [[European Tutor Model]]
- Lots of 'school plays': [[school plays rather than Broadway]].
- campus matters a lot- if they come less often (learning and earning) then makes it even more important.