Role of residential college participation in sense of belonging and academic learning

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined the relationships among students’ participation in Residential College (RC) activities, their sense of belonging, academic engagement, and academic achievement. Participants: Two hundred and forty-six undergraduate students from a public university in Macau participated in this study. Methods: A set of survey questions were responded by each participant via an online link. Results: Participation in RC activities cultivated students’ sense of belonging toward RC which in turn contributed to their sense of belonging toward the university. Students’ academic engagement mediated the relationship between sense of belonging toward UM and academic achievement. Conclusions: These findings confirmed previous studies demonstrating the important role of RC participation in student learning and development, and shed lights on the optimization of RC system in the university as well as student development in higher education.

Keywords:

• Academic achievement
• academic engagement
• residential college
• sense of belonging

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Macau and received approval from the Research Ethics Committee of University of Macau.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.