sources gallery

Context

Ideas about student belonging and loneliness occurred against a background of broader changes to education, attitudes to mental health, the composition of the student body, the expansion of the universities, and expectations of university life. The following sources can be used to understand how concerns surfaced at particular historical moments – for example, concern about student retention across the 1960s.

Student wastage, 1966
Michael Kendall, Report on a survey of students prematurely terminating their university courses in 1968/69 and 1969/70 (research unit for student problems (UoL) and Educational Redeployment Service (London, May 1973), p.13.
Michael Kendall, Report on a survey of students prematurely terminating their university courses in 1968/69 and 1969/70 (research unit for student problems (UoL) and Educational Redeployment Service (London, May 1973), p.17
‘Student Health’, Palatinate. A newspaper for Durham University students, Issue 2, 13 May 1948, 2.

Belonging, induction and freshers’ weeks

Universities and students’ unions have long sought to cultivate a sense of belonging and to introduce students to university life. The sources below are a snapshot of some of the ways that this induction has been conducted and reflected upon in the past. What has changed and what has stayed the same? They are taken from student newspapers. For more on the use of student-produced materials as sources, see https://nus100.nus.org.uk/researching-student-histories-workshop-series/.

‘Freshers’ Conference 1949: an introduction to the university’, Palatinate. A newspaper for Durham University students, Issue 17, 28 October 1949, 7.
‘Be Happy?’ Giblet, 29 June 1966. No. 22, 1.
‘Opinion – from new and old’, Giblet. 29 June 1966. No. 22, 5.
Warwick University Students Union, First years’ Magazine, 1975, p.18
‘Editorial’, Giblet, 19 October 1966. No. 24, 2.
‘Let’s Kill Fresher’s Weekend’, Campus, June 1969, no. 47, 2.
‘Going Up?’, Campus, 10 November 1972. No. 104, 7.
‘An image of students’, Glasgow University Guardian, 19 October 1972, 2.
‘Not so fresh now!’, Glasgow University Guardian, 15 October 1962, 5.
‘Fresher Revels’, Glasgow University Guardian, 19 October 1964, 2.
‘Auchendennan ’71’, Glasgow University Guardian, 28 October 1971, 3.
‘what do freshers think of Glasgow university?’, Glasgow University Guardian,
‘Welcome to Leeds’, Leeds Student, Freshers’ Special Issue, 27 October 1972, 1.

Loneliness

Loneliness and isolation at university are not new. The following articles from student newspapers are a small sample of how past students have articulated the emotional experiences attached to a lack of belonging at university.

‘All the lonely people’, Campus, 15 May 1970, 5
Soraya Din, ‘“University” a New Life’, 1976, Glasgow University Guardian, 4.
‘Lonely?’, Glasgow University Guardian, 29 January 1976, 2.
‘The Cost of Loneliness’, The Boar, 20 February 1985, no. 49, 6. [UWA/PUB/WB/223/1]
‘Loneliness – a perspective’, Glasgow University Guardian, 12 February 1976, 12.
‘Editorial’, The Gryphon: Third Series, Autumn 1951, p. 7 LUA/PUB/002/GRY/307. http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/id/eprint/5346
‘Features: hot spot loneliness’, The Warwick Boar, 14 October 1981, 7. [UWA/PUB/WB/155]
‘Editorial: Chicken coops’, Campus, 18 October 1968, 2.
‘Editorial’, Campus, 4 October 1968, no. 26, 2. [UWA/PUB/C/2/26/1]
‘Action Survey’, Campus, 7 February 1969, no 40, 3.
‘Tocil tenants or Laing lodgers?’, Campus, 22 January 1971, no. 76, 5.
‘Viewpoint: Ojo Babgboye’, Campus, 5 November 1971, no. 89, 5.
‘Student mental stress’, Campus, 4 October 1968, no 26, 6.