When reviewing last year’s free text comments, I was inspired to completely change my research question and focus on belonging as it truly leads to “student identity, engagement and motivation” (Matheson and Sutcliffe, 2018).
Attached below are free text comments from the MA Strategic Fashion Marketing PTES 23/24 results. To kick-start my research, I reviewed the comments again and began a simple thematic analysis starting with first order codes (see document attached). The key takeaways can be divided into 3 categories. Looking ahead, I am curious if these are categories that will emerge from the survey as well and also to provide more understanding by going deeper!
1. Responsibility for Oneself
- Self-reflection: Some students attribute their lack of belonging to personal inaction or reluctance to engage.
- Example: “I think this is because I have not checked or made any effort to find out.”
- Limited effort to connect: Students acknowledge difficulties stemming from not taking the initiative to bond with peers.
2. Desire to Connect with Others
- Need for social events: Students express a strong desire for structured networking opportunities outside the academic setting.
- Example: “I would love to have more networking events!”
- Peer collaboration: Opportunities to collaborate across programs and specialisms are viewed as highly valuable for fostering connections and professional growth.
- Example: “I would love to collaborate with other students in LCF more often or across the three marketing programs.”
- Insufficient opportunities within classes: Students feel there aren’t enough moments to engage with their full cohort, particularly through activities like group projects or mixed seminar groups.
- Example: “I was expecting more classes to be SFM-only. There are so many people in the programme I’ll never know because we don’t have enough opportunity to connect as a class.”
- Digital connection efforts: Attempts to establish virtual platforms for communication (e.g., Instagram groups) often failed due to low participation.
3. Negative Experiences
- Isolation and exclusion: Feelings of alienation dominate, especially for those who joined late or struggled to break into existing social circles.
- Example: “Joining the course three weeks late put me at a disadvantage, as everyone had already formed groups and friendships.”
- Cultural and cliquish divides: Some students noted cultural cliques preventing inclusive interactions.
- Example: “Even individuals from my own country, India, seemed to have formed their own cliques without extending a hand to include me.”
- Mental health impacts: The lack of belonging has profound effects on students’ mental health, leading to loneliness and diminished enthusiasm for their studies.
- Example: “I consistently felt like an outcast, which has taken a toll on my mental health and left me feeling lonely.”
- Limited faculty interaction: A perceived lack of interaction with lecturers compounds the sense of detachment from the academic community.
- Example: “I don’t feel the course is very interactive with lecturers and other students.”
Ruth Matheson & Mark Sutcliffe (2018) Belonging and transition: An exploration of International Business Students’ postgraduate experience, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55:5, 602-610, DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2017.1279558