Beyond Orientation: A CECE informed learning community for international student transitions

Hengyi Wang (Univeristy of Sussex Business School)

This session presents and critically evaluate a Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE)-informed Learning Community (LC) developed for international direct-entry students at a UK university. The LC operates weekly during term time and is intentionally designed to move beyond information-heavy orientation models toward a developmental, holistic, and barrier-breaking approach to academic advising and personal tutoring. The LC integrates academic skills and personal development, language scaffolding, intercultural communication competence, student co-creation, peer support, and structured access to Professional Services (e.g., Careers, Wellbeing, Student Voice, Alumni, etc). Informal gatherings and online materials extend the community beyond the physical classroom boundaries, supporting continuity of learning, sense of belonging and academic success.

The LC design intentionally operationalises all nine indicators of Museus’s (2014) Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) model. Five indicators address cultural relevance: cultural familiarity, supported through opportunities for students to connect with staff, alumni and peers who share similar backgrounds; culturally relevant knowledge, enacted through student led support sessions; cultural community service, reflected in student mentoring and contributions to incoming cohorts; meaningful cross-cultural engagement, fostered through reciprocal peer-led language and culture learning between home and international students; and cultural validation, embedded in multilingual appreciation and academic-English scaffolding. The remaining indicators concern responsiveness to diverse students’ needs: collectivist cultural orientations, expressed through community and belonging building; humanised educational environments, developed via consistent tutor presence and relationship-building; proactive philosophies, realised through stage-based engagement and barrier-breaking access, and holistic support, embedded through the student-centred approach that actively equips learners to navigate complex institutional support structures while keeping their academic progress and personal development at the core.

Evidence is drawn from weekly micro-surveys and annual questionnaires, which indicate consistently positive feedback regarding belonging, confidence in navigating support, understanding expectation and achieving academic success. This findings align with emerging evidence that well-designed learning communities can improve international students’ academic satisfaction, social integration, and outcomes (Gokpinar-Shelton & Pike, 2022). Designed for direct-entry students from China, the LC is adaptable for diverse cohorts; grounded in CECE and co‑creation, its activities can be tailored to varied educational backgrounds. The session therefore not only showcases a practice-based model but also contributes to current debates on culturally-responsive advising in a time of structural change in UK HE.

The session will offer an overview of the LC rationale and CECE grounding, a practical guidance of the weekly LC architecture and examples of high-impact practices.

Learning Outcomes

Bibliography

Sense of belonging, student pressures and engagement in Higher Education Post-Pandemic – Is it time for a new approach?

Caroline Jones (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Article 1: Jones, C., S. Bell, H. (2025) Unravelling Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: Staff and Student Perspectives at an English University. Trends High. Educ. 4(3), pp. 45. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-4346/4/3/45.

A sense of belonging among university students is widely perceived as critical to engagement, retention and outcomes. The aim of this research was to improve understanding of how staff and students conceptualise belonging, how sense of belonging can be enhanced, and factors which work against it in the post-COVID era. Thematic analysis generated three major themes: (1) understandings of belonging; (2) connections, caring and mattering; (3) challenges to belonging and the results of this first publication will be discussed further as part of this lightening presentation.

Article 2: Jones, C. S., and Bell, H. (2025a) ‘They are being squeezed left, right and centre’: English Higher Education students under pressure following COVID-19. Journal of University Teaching and Learning. 21(6). https://doi.org/10.53761/b96chc12.

In addition, there is a crisis of poverty and ill health that is affecting higher education students which is likely to continue for many years. Further research reveals the ‘pressures’ that widening participation, first generation and commuter students in England are experiencing post-covid. Themes of; mental health and wellbeing, cost-of-living, academic pressures, perceived lack of future, and strong relationships were identified (Jones and Bell, 2025a). The recommendations arising from this second research publication will be shared during this lightening presentation.

Chapter: Jones, C. S., and Sweeney, L. (2025) Student Engagement and Sense of Belonging – are we ready for a new approach? In Strudwick, K., and Miller, K, A. (Eds.) 'Building Student Belonging in HE: Perspectives on Driving and Developing Change'. Emerald Publishing.

The Psychosocial and Academic Trust Alienation (PATA) theory identifies aspects of barriers to student engagement, which may affect belonging in higher education. By exploring how the PATA theory can be applied to the complexities of student demographics and post-pandemic engagement challenges, practical HE leadership and teaching and learning strategies will be highlighted to explore how they enhance student engagement and belonging. The effects of marketisation and neoliberalism in HE which can increase challenges for student engagement and belonging will also be explored (Jones and Sweeny, 2025). Highlights from this recently published book chapter will be shared with participants to provoke thought for new approaches to personal tutoring and student support in higher education.

This abstract links to the UKAT conference 2026 theme of:

• Belonging and Mattering – Contributions considering how personal tutoring and academic advising foster a sense of belonging and mattering that enables students to engage more successfully with their education.

• Mental Health and Well-being – Contributions which reflect on how academic advising and personal tutoring can improve student well-being and support students’ mental health concerns.

Learning Outcomes

Bibliography

In your students’ shoes: An immersive approach to tutorial training

Esther Wilson (University of York), Josie Gabi (Manchester Metropolitan University), Liz Thomas (University of York)