Participate in the cross-institution pilot of the
‘Being, Belonging, Becoming’ survey
Deadline for expression of interest: Deadline extended!
Evaluating initiatives that enhance the Being, Belonging and Becoming of students
The team at evasys are delighted to support the University of Portsmouth as the lead institution for a new pilot survey aimed at gathering cross-institution data on initiatives that enhance students’ sense of Being, Belonging and Becoming.
With the demise of benchmarked survey data provided by the National Student Survey (NSS) that would help institutions to evaluate the sense of belonging of its students through monitoring responses to the statement “I feel part of a community of staff and students”, this project, led by Prof Harriet Dunbar-Morris, formerly Dean of Learning and Teaching at University of Portsmouth and now Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at University of Buckingham, aims to create a new survey tool and process around this theme for potential sector-wide use in the future.
After suggesting the idea in the Times Higher, Prof Dunbar-Morris is now working on a pilot survey and is keen to engage with institutions that may like to get involved at this stage.
The background of Being, Belonging, Becoming
As part of its work to enhance student success, the University of Portsmouth developed its learning, teaching, assessment and support activities around a Being, Belonging, Becoming framework, based on work carried out by Meehan and Howells (2018).
This work found that the values of being, belonging and becoming were important to students and that, in particular, three things mattered:
The inclusive, supportive and accessible approach that was taken at Portsmouth was designed to cater for its diverse student body and form part of the whole-institution approach to fostering student wellbeing and inclusion. The university piloted a survey with students, during the pandemic when the approach was first delivered, to evaluate how the work was affecting students’ Being, Belonging and Becoming (BBB).
The University of Portsmouth is now leading on a new, shorter and more current (non-pandemic focussed) survey to be piloted across multiple institutions and is seeking participation from UK universities.
The purpose of the Being, Belonging, Becoming survey
The purpose of the BBB survey is an evaluation tool of initiatives that enhance students’ BBB at appropriate level and stage within an institution. Question groupings will cover:
Piloting the Being, Belonging, Becoming survey
Institutions are welcome to pilot this at course, School, Faculty or Institution level, dependent upon their survey approval processes and having relevant initiatives to evaluate at that level and stage. The intention is to undertake two surveys with students, one pre and one post intervention(s), e.g. one at the start and end of the 23/24 academic year. Mindful of the need to avoid survey fatigue it is understood that you may wish to only pilot in a very focused way, perhaps by replacing an internal survey with this pilot survey for a module or course, or trialling it in a School or Faculty, rather than attempting an institution-wide approach.
Areas for belonging at university
Source: HEPI Policy Note 23, ‘Student belonging and the wider context’, November 2022
