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First-generation students (FGS) experience numerous challenges during their studies because of their background attributes and lack of social capital required to navigate institutions of higher learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceived social support and a sense of belonging on academic persistence among FGS at a distance e-learning institution in South Africa.

A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was employed. The sample comprised 240 undergraduate students. While multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the influence of perceived social support and sense of belonging on academic persistence, mediation analysis was used to test for the mediating effect of sense of belonging on the relationship between perceived social support and academic persistence.

The results revealed that while perceived family support, perceived friendship support and perceived support from others did not significantly predict academic persistence, a sense of belonging significantly predicted academic persistence. The results also demonstrated that a sense of belonging significantly mediated the relationship between perceived family support and academic persistence. Further, the sense of belonging significantly mediated the relationship between perceived support from others and academic persistence.

The results of the study imply that distance learning institutions should strengthen student support mechanisms and institute steps to create learning environments that engender belongingness to enable students to persist academically and reach their academic goals.

This study outlines practical strategies that distance learning institutions could use to enhance support and bolster belongingness among students to help them complete their studies.

University students often encounter academic challenges and setbacks, which can impact their beliefs about their capabilities, leading to a phenomenon known as learned helplessness. This study explores the antecedents of learned helplessness through the interaction between teacher support, self-efficacy, and cultural dimensions such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity.

Drawing from constructivism, the authors empirically examined a conceptual model utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM). A total of 268 university students completed a self-survey on learned helplessness via a Google Form.

The study shows that LH is influenced by personal attributes, perceived support, and cultural context. Higher self-efficacy is linked to lower LH scores, while teacher support indirectly affects LH through self-efficacy. Power distance and uncertainty avoidance also directly impact LH. Additionally, cultural influences indirectly affect LH through perceived support and self-efficacy. However, the hypothesized connections between masculinity and LH were not supported.

The study advances LH literature by exploring it among university students using a multidimensional, constructivist approach, providing valuable insights for educational authorities. We illuminate how individual, social, and cultural factors influence LH, underscoring the serial mediation between self-efficacy and perceived teacher support. Existing literature frequently overlooks the intricate interplay among cultural dimensions and other factors, limiting the formulation of comprehensive solutions. Our research breaks new ground in quantitative LH examination within education, delving into Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and suggesting strategies to mitigate uncertainty and power distance for student well-being and success.

The need to enhance student support is evident in higher education (HE) curricula. In addition to the complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the current strategies used in academia are criticised for their lack of appropriate student support in HE. The study focused on the themes under Section 4 of the National Student Survey (NSS): availability to contact tutors, receiving good advice and guidance and availability of good advice. The study aimed to provide recommendations for enhancing academic support by developing drivers that need implementation during course delivery.

A documental analysis and a qualitative survey were adopted for this study. A documental analysis of 334 mid-module reviews (MMRs) from levels three to six students in the built environment (BE) discipline. Critical themes identified from the MMRs were fed forward in developing a questionnaire for academics. A sample of 23 academics, including a Head of school, a Principal lecturer, Subject leads and Lecturers, participated in the questionnaire survey. Content analysis is adopted through questionnaire data to develop drivers to enhance academic support in BE. These drivers are then modelled by interpretive structural modelling (ISM) to identify their correlation to NSS Section 4 themes. A level partition analysis establishes how influential they are in enhancing academic support.

The study identified nine drivers, where two drivers were categorised as fundamental, two as significant, four as important, and one insignificant in enhancing academic support in HE. Module leaders’/tutors’ improving awareness and detailing how academic support is provided were identified as fundamental. Differentiating roles in giving advice and the importance of one-to-one meetings were identified as significant. A level partitioning diagram was developed from the nine drivers to illustrate how these drivers need to be implemented to promote the best practices in academic support in HE.

The identified drivers and their categories can be used to set prioritised guidelines for academics and other educational institutions to improve students’ overall satisfaction.

Novelty from the study will be the developed drivers and the level partitioning diagram to assist academics and academic institutions in successfully integrating academic support into HE curricula.

The purpose of this study is to examine approaches used by university libraries to enhance the visibility and utilization of research support services (RSSs) among doctoral students and to assess the competencies of library staff in delivering research support services.

This study used qualitative design approach, purposively sampled 40 librarians (8 university librarians and 32 librarians) in charge of RSSs and use of structured interview.

The findings of this study revealed three major themes: offline and online strategies, the need for upskilling and professional development programs and proactive empowerment.

This study focused on research support services in chartered public universities in Kenya; private universities were not included.

The need to enhance library staff's ongoing professional development programs, increasing funding to university libraries and proactivity by the libraries to improve the provision and promotion of RSSs to doctoral students in Kenya.

There are limited existing literature in the Kenyan context. This study will fill a knowledge gap and contribute to the literature on academic libraries support and doctoral students experience in Kenyan context.

There is evidence that students’ experiences in higher education can be adversely affected by mental health issues, whilst well-being can be bolstered through a sense of belonging. This study aims to draw from Student Minds research into student mental health to consider the importance of peers to constructing a sense of belonging.

This paper draws from a thematic review of 12 focus groups – involving student services staff in six UK universities (69 participants) – conducted as part of the consultation and creation of the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter. The schedule considered student support, service structures and developments to enhance student well-being and manage mental health risks.

A significant theme explored here is the positionality of student peers in terms of relatability, and the importance of orientation and belonging for student mental health and well-being. The findings also consider types of peer involvement (formal/informal) and the influence of structure, training and boundaries in interventions.

Findings reveal the importance of feeling a sense of belonging in the university community to achieve well-being and good mental health. Peer support is an important contributor that supports transitions into university and creates a sense of belonging, which is important to all students, but more so to those less familiar with university, who lack role models and more easily feel isolated.

The research has implications for higher education providers, which should inform the promotion of peer support within student services, based on the recognised contribution to well-being and mental health. This is important for student success and related opportunities.

Success in higher education will open opportunities and create improved future prospects for individuals. This will not be realised for individuals who face boundaries and barriers to successful transition through university. The importance of belonging and role of peer support has implications for those who find themselves excluded in society.

This is a qualitative study which gives voice to individuals in universities across the UK. The theme of peer support within this context and linked with mental health and well-being is underexplored.

This paper aims to examine how doctoral students in education and applied linguistics fields successfully navigated graduate writing demands by participating in a support community that catalyzed writing productivity, peer mentoring and feedback. Guiding graduate students’ writing processes based on scholarly interests and providing peer support are vital to scholarly productivity and transition into academia.

Following a collaborative analytic autoethnographic case study design (Adams et al., 2022; Chang et al., 2013), the authors narrated major events that impacted their writing and publication experiences. The authors visualized their entire doctoral writing experience based on the frequency of writing events that contributed to writing productivity. In data triangulation discussions, the authors reflected on writing experiences.

Findings show that the support community alleviated individual struggles associated with writing a dissertation and high-quality papers. Key factors contributing to scholarly growth included nonevaluative peer support, feedback and shared academic resources. Writing within the periphery of faculty research and predominantly focusing on doctoral milestones led to individual scholarly interests being overshadowed. Without structured guidance, doctoral writers may develop initiatives to alleviate individual struggles and meet academic writing demands in the disciplines.

The authors recommend including structured guidance on developing writing productivity and a personal research agenda in the early stages of the doctorate.

This study offers unique examples of how a student group supported writing productivity and socialization into the academic community. It illustrates the multifaceted nature of academic writing influenced by faculty–student relationships, peers and individual initiatives. This paper provides doctoral writers and graduate programs with examples of accomplishing academic publishing goals.

This study aims to understand the role of seeking social support in the relationship between perceived helplessness, self-efficacy and satisfaction among graduate students during the pandemic, drawing upon the transactional model of stress and coping. Graduate students are composed of nontraditional students who are considered significantly different from traditional students. Nonetheless, research has yet to explore how seeking social support contributed to graduate students’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to the relationship between feelings of helplessness and positive mental health. More specifically, this study examined how seeking social support from others mediates the relationship between perceived helplessness and self-efficacy, academic satisfaction and general life satisfaction among graduate students.

Using quantitative data collected from 545 graduate students at a large, research-intensive university in the USA, structural equation modeling was used to test our conceptual model.

The results of this study indicate that perceived helplessness has a direct and adverse relationship with self-efficacy. Social support mediates the negative relationship between the two variables, buffering the negative psychological experience students feel and leading to higher levels of self-efficacy and two domains of satisfaction. Self-efficacy is positively associated with academic and general life satisfaction among graduate students. Academic satisfaction positively predicts general life satisfaction, as well. A conceptual model was developed, yielding acceptable goodness-of-fit statistics.

This study adds to the postsecondary education literature and contributes to the larger discourse identifying the positive role of social support in supporting graduate students to cope with psychological challenges that may be exacerbated under stressful conditions.

The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to determine the perceptions of preservice teachers (PSTs) on the effectiveness of instructional rounds as a clinical experience in promoting awareness of student diversity and supporting the acquisition of professional knowledge (Essential 2).

The instructional rounds were implemented in a junior-level general pedagogy course prior to formal clinical experiences. Professional development school (PDS) personnel supported the course instructors by scheduling the classroom observations, supervising groups of PSTs and debriefing the PSTs after each observation (Essentials 4 and 8). The data were collected through an end-of-course survey of 18 secondary PSTs.

There were several themes that emerged from the analysis of data. First, the study revealed that PSTs credited the variety of campuses visited as supporting their awareness of student diversity and varied instructional strategies. Second, PSTs acknowledged that the instructional rounds supported their connection of theory to practice. Finally, over 70% of the participants noted that they most enjoyed in-person experiences in different classrooms to observe students and teachers in action.

The findings for this study were specific to the teacher preparation program (TPP) utilized for the research. Each TPP requires different coursework and clinical experiences; therefore, the inclusion of instructional rounds may not be possible in all programs. Yet, the implementation of the rounds as a PST experience prior to clinical experiences is a strategy to consider to support the preparation of PSTs for their clinical experiences.

This study supports the continuation of instructional rounds at the teacher preparation program where the research was conducted. This research also informs other TPPs that strive to provide early clinical experiences that support PSTs’ emerging perceptions of student diversity and applications of instructional knowledge.

Supervisors play an important role in the educational life and progress of graduate students. Having a positive and supportive working relationship with one’s supervisor is important to student wellbeing and contributes to graduate students’ ability to thrive within higher education. In this chapter, the authors examine the impact of supervisors on graduate student wellbeing and thriving within the context of higher education. Students with highly autonomy-supportive supervisors tended to report higher thriving. Findings indicate that the quality of interactions, the type of support provided by, and the quality of student–supervisor relationships are important factors and considerations for graduate student thriving. This study advocates for the recognition of the critical role that supervisors play in the thriving and languishing of graduate students and calls for more structured and wide-reaching professional development programs that work to create an environment where autonomy-supportive and compassionate supervision are seen as the standard for graduate faculty.

This chapter focuses on student wellbeing, particularly supporting graduate students during their internships. The authors will consider the Okanagan Charter, promising practices from undergraduate, and factors impacting graduate student wellbeing to explore how higher education settings can support graduate student wellbeing during internships. The chapter also contemplates practices that graduate schools may implement to support graduate students and offers recommendations in support of graduate student wellbeing.