Recognition and Belonging: Engaging First Generation Students

This paper is based on a reflective journey taken by project members which offers insight into the unique challenges that first generation students face and considers the institutional responses needed to enhance their engagement and experience. The student as academic partner’s project was developed to further explore issues of recognition, belonging and engagement for first generation students - who are the first in their families to attend higher education. Whilst this group of students should be celebrated as pioneers of higher education they are more likely than their counterparts to drop out of their studies or have a difficult transition to higher education because they lack the required social capital. In the face of widening participation and increasing access to university for students from diverse backgrounds the paper will consider the tension between the need for students to adapt in order to fit the university and the university’s need to adapt in order to fit the students. We will highlight small developments that can have the largest impact on both the university and the student population. Through this research, we believe that being a first generation student is not a barrier but a real and ongoing achievement!