Overcoming the hurdles to student engagement: challenges facing two modern urban London universities

Exploring student cohort engagement experiences/challenges in two modern urban universities to identify, learn and share best practices that lead to more in-depth activities. To drive social change, the UK government widened participation in higher education, leading to the diversification of the students‘ backgrounds and abilities. More students live at home and commute, making establishing active learning communities difficult. Understanding social aspects help develop and enhance student engagement strategies. Utilising institutional data and focus groups, identified drivers and barriers to student‘s engagement with various activities/opportunities in/out of the classroom. Resultant similarities/ differences between student cohorts in awareness, impact and benefit of engaging are observed. Particularly, striking was the impact of ethnicity and commuting on a large cohort compared to white students. Outcomes are discussed in terms of learning/sharing best practices to drive social change. Findings indicate that careful consideration of the timetabling of extracurricular events increases: socialisation, belonging, accessibility/inclusivity, enhancing mental wellbeing.