The UK Higher Education sector supports culturally rich and diverse populations of students, many of whom travel from overseas to study. International study can be a valuable experience and an opportunity for students to engage with a new culture and develop skills that enhance their employment prospects. From an institutional perspective, international students bring in different perspectives and lived experiences and contribute to a cultural richness that can be experienced by all. The challenge for students studying overseas is that they are expected to integrate with their new living and educational environments. This can be relatively easy for some and very stressful for others. Key to this is their feeling of belonging which can impact their ability to transition to their new life.

This paper reports on a faculty-wide study which used a survey to understand international students’ experiences of studying in the UK and to understand how their experience of educational environments might impact their sense of belonging. The survey contained Likert-style and open-ended questions which asked about students’ prior expectations of UK study and their experiences of its delivery. It also asked them to rate their sense of belonging and asked for their views on what their university could do to increase the sense of belonging in international students.

The survey was completed by 146 participants from eight schools within the Faculty of Science. We used descriptive statistics to analyse the survey data. Answers to the open-ended questions provided a rich data set in their own right and so we inductively thematically analysed these. The analysis resulted in the generation of four themes: Connection; Support and Wellbeing; Access to Learning; and Inclusion. We discuss these results in light of the research literature on belonging and the current climate in the UK which is significantly impacting international student numbers due to visa regulations. We provide a discussion of what our international students told us about their experiences and sense of belonging, and what this means for building more inclusive practices in Higher Education institutions. To conclude, we provide a set of recommendations, separately endorsed by four current international student consultants.

Keywords: International students, Belonging, Higher Education, Recommendations, Inclusive Education, Thematic Analysis.