Enhancing a sense of academic and social belongingness of Chinese direct-entry students in the post-Covid era: a UK context

ABSTRACT

Transnational routes such as direct-entry have become a more attractive option for Chinese students, due to the pandemic-imposed travel restrictions in China. The rise of Chinese direct-entry students can potentially lead to a significant increase in demand for academic and non-academic support not only after their arrival, but also before their departure from China. By applying Schlossberg’s transition theory, this paper seeks to develop a good understanding of the academic and social belonging of Chinese direct-entry students in the UK through re-analysing the portraits (written narratives) of a previous research project. The findings indicate that these students were feeling disconnected from the academic and social communities. The factors affecting their sense of belonging are described using the 4S framework, namely self, strategies, situation and support. The paper ends with recommendations to key university stakeholders on how the partner institutions in China and the UK can help enhance a sense of academic and social belongingness of Chinese direct-entry students.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-border transition
• direct-entry
• Chinese direct-entry students
• transnational education
• adult transition theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Xianghan O’Dea

Dr. Xianghan O'Dea is a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy. She is currently a Subject Group Lead (Logistics, Transportation, Operations and Analytics) at Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield. She has more than 20 years of experience in higher education as lecturer, researcher and academic developer.