A synthesis of key concepts and literature

3.2. Student retention

In the United Kingdom, the lead author of an extensive research project that involved 22 higher educational institutions concluded that sense of belonging was a key factor in student retention. Thomas (2012) underlined the need for structured formal opportunities for participation to provide a SoB: “the importance of students having a strong sense of belonging in HE, which is the result of engagement…is most effectively nurtured through mainstream activities with an overt academic purpose that all students participate in.” (p.12).

Hurtado & Carter’s (1997) work offered a holistic approach to understanding student withdrawal, suggesting that learner persistence was a joint responsibility of the learner and the institution, and supported through the intersection of individual and institutional responsibility, commitment and action.  Subsequent researchers have borne this out, consistently linking SoB with improved student attainment, increased learner satisfaction and persistence (Hausmann et al., 2009; Locks et al.,2008; Vaccaro et al., 2015), with Hoffman et al. (2002-2003) reporting that “the greater a student’s sense of belonging to the university, the greater is his or her commitment to that institution … and the more likely it is that he or she will remain” (p.228). Significant work in the United States has also noted the particular importance of SoB for learners who perceive themselves to be marginal to campus life and ‘non-traditional’ according to class, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, income and disability (Hausmann et al., 2009; Johnson et al., 2007; Locks et al., 2008; Vaccaro & Newman, 2017).

Strayhorn’s (2012) work in relation to college students’ sense of belonging echoes in much of the literature in concluding that, if a SoB is not developed, this loss until resolved will impede the learners’ ability to attend to the task at hand (studying and fulfilling the goals of higher education).