Sense of place, identity and attachment : entering university.

Sense of Place is a topic that has attracted considerable interest of late; how people relate to their location and how this bond can increase or decrease can have considerable bearing on levels of well-being and adjustment. Place attachment can also be strengthened through social interplay and through people becoming active members of a community such as a university. This study looks at the level of connection to place experienced by university students embarking on the first year of their degree programme. Using established survey instruments, students were questioned at the start of their course and again three months later to determine whether levels of place attachment, place meaning, place identity and social capital would increase over this period. Interviews with students examined their relationship to place and their perceptions of the university campus. Results show that place attachment did increase significantly pre- and post-test, but place meaning did not show any statistically significant change. There was some evidence to suggest that there is a weak link between social capital levels pre- and post-test. A key finding of the study was the importance of national identity, specifically a connection to Wales, and the high rating given to the importance of family bonds. Fundamentally, this research is useful as it may be able to inform policy and practice in the context of higher education, particularly in regard to the issue of retention; i.e. whether students remain in the institution of their choice and complete their chosen academic programme.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Davies, Peter Henry

• HM Cymdeithaseg
• HT Cymunedau. Dosbarthiadau cymdeithasol. Hil

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:380