Indigenous university students’ sense of place/belonging and its effects on retention

‘Place’ is a significant concept used to explore how people ascribe meaning to their surrounds, based on the physical, social and emotional affects that different spaces create.  The university is a physical, social and emotional space in which students (and staff) can feel strong attachments or may fail to attain such meanings.  These experiences feed into student engagement and motivation about their studies in ways that have been under-researched so far in the literature on Indigenous student’s academic success and attrition. This workshop presents the findings of an Office of Learning and Teaching-funded project titled The ‘university place’: How and why place influences the engagement and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students, conducted by Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics at two universities, and aims to encourage discussion on similarities and differences between small, regional Queensland universities and The University of Melbourne. More...