About the Project

Our student-led initiative, in partnership with AdvanceHE, has developed the Warwick Building Belonging Framework. Through extensive research, including surveys, workshops, and feedback analysis, we've identified key barriers to belonging at Warwick and created a comprehensive framework to address them.

This framework offers practical guidance for staff and students to enhance the overall student experience. It includes:

• Best practice examples for fostering inclusion
• Co-created resources to build a more welcoming campus community
• A roadmap for implementing the framework that aligns with the University's Education and Student Experience Strategy.

Our ongoing work will refine and expand the framework, with the goal of creating a similar framework for staff belonging. This will help to create a supportive and inclusive campus environment for all at Warwick.

This project was supported by WIHEA, the Dean of Students' Office, SEM Faculty, the Widening Participation Team, and Warwick Students’ Union.

The Impact:

By integrating the framework into the Community and Connections theme of the new Education and Student Experience Strategy, we have positioned it to benefit all students at Warwick. Our ongoing efforts to develop a similar framework for staff will further extend its reach, potentially impacting the experiences of all university employees.

The project's lasting legacy will be a clear and actionable framework that can be used to enhance the student experience by fostering a strong sense of belonging. Beyond the framework itself, this project has left a valuable legacy in terms of our team's working practices and our approach to co-creation within WIHEA and at Warwick.

To ensure the framework's widespread adoption, we will:

• Launch and promote the framework to staff and students.
• Transition the framework to an online platform for greater accessibility.
• Share the framework with colleagues and students through WIHEA, articles, and publications.

Get Involved:

All staff and students involved with fostering belonging were invited to complete this AdvanceHE survey to help us shape the final framework.

Belonging Best Practice:

We would also love to hear about any best practice you have seen, experienced, worked on, or led in relation to Belonging at Warwick. We aim to collate and share best practice examples as part of the final framework. If you have any questions or are interested in contributing further to help further with the project, please don't hesitate to reach out to the project team at .

Stay tuned for other opportunities to participate in surveys, workshops, and discussions.

Project Team

Project Methodology

Our comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing belonging involved a variety of engagement methods:

• AdvanceHE Belonging Questionnaire: We received a substantial response rate, surpassing that of the five other institutions on the AdvanceHE programme, providing valuable insights for our initial framework development in March 2024.
• Professional Services Feedback: We engaged with staff through the professional services network to gather their perspectives on belonging in April 2024.
• Student Listening Rooms: We conducted in-depth discussions with students to ensure their voices were central to the framework's development.
• Strategic Integration: Our team actively contributed to the University's new Education and Student Experience Strategy, particularly focusing on the Community and Connections theme.
• Knowledge Sharing: We presented a masterclass on co-creation to share our learnings and best practices in July 2024, which have been incorporated into the University's new co-creation guidance.

The resulting Warwick Belonging Framework is a practical tool for colleagues and students across the University, which aims to support the visualisation, mapping and building of belonging. It identifies four key elements that contribute to belonging and emphasises the importance of building trust. While the design of the framework is still under development, it can be effectively used in its current form.

We are always looking for fun and innovative ways to co-creating and working with students. If you are interested in contributing to the project, please email .