By Tom Lowe
It is a key priority of universities to facilitate a sense of belonging for their students during their education. While it is a term that has been in higher education discourse for some time, it has gained increasing traction over in the last decade, with research indicating multiple benefits including greater student satisfaction and even student outcomes. The term belonging became a key focus from 2020, following a drastic decrease in social interaction during the social distancing of COVID-19. Maslow (1943) emphasises that belonging is part of the hierarchy of human needs, arguing that to truly flourish as individuals, belonging to a community group (such as a university) has positive outcomes that lead towards self-actualisation. It’s hard not to understand why this notion of a ‘sense of belonging’ to the university is of critical importance for higher education institutions.
Our universities continue to focus on fostering a sense of belonging through activities, campaigns, and social events, however this blog is not focusing on sharing best practice, instead it seeks to address a rather live issue in the UK sector of how that sense of belonging may be impacted if two universities merge together. This is with a particular mind towards what this may mean for students and alumni, though I think many of the concerns apply to staff.
Mergers in the public sector – not so new
Universities are still (just about, holding on by our fingertips) part of the UK public sector. Although they are self-governed, financially independent, and registered as separate to the government or council, universities are reliant on government funding and regulated by national policy. The wider public sector has also undeniably experienced funding challenges, where the search for cost saving in governance, human resources, IT Services and wider operations, has led public sector leaders to propose efficiencies through merging regional services. With inspiration drawn from private sector, mergers and acquisitions can be a means to gain more user or market share, combine resources, and provide a more financially viable service for both the user and supplier. This is notable in English District Councils where in 2026, “mega-councils” across whole counties are set to be created through mergers of City and Borough Councils with an ambition to make such efficiencies. Similarly, mergers in Health Trusts or Dioceses; Primary, Secondary, and Further Education schools, regional Charities and even the Military Regiments have often seen more locally allocated bodies become far larger groups.
Do all mergers impact belonging?
Belonging is often acquired through membership of, access to, and support from a group of individuals with a shared identity, activity and/or interest. Families, hobbie groups, sports teams, societies, faith groups, community groups, education providers and employers, all provide opportunities for belonging and therefore, are often cited as beneficial for one’s mental health. From the service user’s perspective, mergers of public services or private bodies often do not facilitate such opportunities, such as when our health provider becomes administrated by a wider health trust, we may not notice, so long as we can still gain access to required services. Similarly, when our district council’s logistics and operations combine, again we may not notice the impact, as long as our bins are collected and our bills don’t increase. Finally, when private companies merge and we are their customers, we often care about price, quality, and convenience. As users of their services and consumers of their goods, if access does not become worse or more expensive, there may be little consequence for feelings of belonging.
Mergers that do impact belonging
However, there are some examples listed above that certainly can have an impact on belonging. For example, if the ‘efficiencies’ gained through these mergers leads to closures of local services and less availability of goods, people may feel they are negatively impacted. This negative feeling may manifest as feeling as though one ‘matters less’, which has a direct impact on feelings of belonging. Furthermore, if you are not the customer or service user, but an employee of these groups, these mergers can have a much greater impact. For example, a school merger can inspire a lot of uncertainty and have a detrimental impact on the feelings of belonging for the staff of the employr.
“What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet”
Belonging is infinitely tied to identity, and name changes through mergers - particularly those with a long history - can be hugely impactful. For example, the name change of a historic school which has a meaningful and prominent identity to its students, community, or graduates could have this outcome. Another example could be the 2000s mergers of Military Regiments, such as the merger of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derby), Worcester, and Staffordshire Regiments merging into the Mercian (Midland) Regiment. For many this was perceived as the end of decades of activity, and the shared identity of hundreds of individuals. Perhaps the activities may not have changes for these regiments, but the names meant a great deal to the groups. Therefore, in thinking about mergers where ‘the name of the thing’ is involved with some form of membership which brings identity, it is important to note the impact the changing of the name can have on groups who feel their identities are strongly bound to these names. Belonging does not relate to activities and services alone – it relates to people, to individuals. One only has to Google the possibility of the merger of the two football teams in Sheffield (Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday) to see how strong this reaction can be! When one feels a sense of belonging to a group, changes (or threats) to this identity can be taken very personally.
University mergers and belonging
My above reflections on belonging to groups, companies and services now arrives at thinking more specifically about universities. These are undeniably rich places of belonging and identity, through its numerous and often interconnected threads of activities that have been evidenced through research to lead to a sense of belonging. Friendship groups, cohorts of study, sports and societies, and historic traditions, can all create a sense of pride, community and common identity in our students. This same identity follows students into graduate life, where many people will identify as a graduate of X university. The above comparisons to wider public sector highlight warnings for educational institutions and mergers, such as the perceived decrease in quality and access of services – potentially impacting students’ sense of mattering. Echoing thoughts above relating to the identity of the student as being specifically a member of X university, which is perhaps just as important for graduates, the institution being renamed and rebranded could impact belonging as a whole. The risks to belonging and identity posed by these mergers are incredibly important to counter balance to ensure that the new creation of the merger is something of which the staff, students and alumni can be proud. Communications need to be very careful here.
Two universities become one – a pattern for the future of UK Higher Education.
This occurrence of a merger between two major HE providers has not happened for a decade. However, it must be noted that this is more common practice in Further Education and College Level Higher Education. The details of how the combination of these two universities will combine is not yet clear, beyond the possibility of the name change towards Group status. This will require very careful messaging and handling for all involved. The student, staff and graduate voice should also be consulted to ensure as little impact on their sense of belonging and how the rebrand might work towards creating a greater sense of belonging for the institutions’ members.
Returning to belonging best practice literature and evidence-informed approaches are a good place to start. There are ample new publications recently available (three recent books below) and it is a field continuing to receive great scholarly attention. Best practice in the literature often highlights the need for opportunities for shared activities, a clear sense of identity, and importantly staff being prioritised as much as students to ensure their belonging and feelings of mattering are recognised. If a perceived decrease in quality of service begins, or if ambiguity is allowed to foster (perhaps, fester), instead of prioritising people’s journey in uncertain times, feelings of alienation and distrust will begin to grow.
Tom Lowe has researched and innovated in student engagement across diverse settings for over ten years, in areas such as student voice, retention, employability and student-staff partnership. Tom works at the University of Westminster as Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting where he leads on student experience, outcomes and belonging. Tom is also the Chair of RAISE, a network for all stakeholders in higher education for researching, innovating and sharing best practice in student engagement. Prior to Westminster, Tom was a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth and previously held leadership positions for engagement and employability at the University of Winchester. Tom has published two books on student engagement with Routledge; ‘A Handbook for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theory into Practice’ in 2020 and ‘Advancing Student Engagement in Higher Education: Reflection, Critique and Challenge’ in 2023, and has supported over 40 institutions in consultancy and advisory roles internationally
Readings
Ahn, M.Y., Venn, E. and Lowe, T. eds., 2025. Student Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives and Practice. Routledge.
Edmunds, K. and Gilani, D. 2025. Student Belonging in Action: Practical Case Studies to Foster a Sense of Belonging Across the Higher Education Student Journey. Routledge.
Maslow, A. H., 1943. A theory of human motivation, Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.
Strudwick, K. and Miller, K.A. eds., 2025. Building Student Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives on Driving and Developing Change. Emerald Group Publishing.
