The process of developing an identity at university is a complex one (Kyne & Thompson, 2020). In the context of the transition to HE, the literature recognises two specific identity formations that are crucial to a successful transition (Scanlon et al., 2007). These are: the emergence of student identity through social interaction and the emergence of student identity through an attachment to the context (in this case their university). When students make the transition to university, they exchange the stable learning environment of their school with a new unfamiliar context, in which they feel anonymous, introducing a feeling of uncertainty (Scanlon et al., 2007). Prior to the pandemic, literature suggested that students struggled with the contemporary structure of modern universities (Bridges, 2000; Evans, 2020). In support of this, research by Scanlon et al. (2007) suggests that students found it difficult to study on smaller, subsidiary campuses rather than on the main campus. In this case, their study’s location significantly impacted the development of their identity as university students.

In March 2020, the onset of COVID-19 meant campuses closed and teaching and learning was moved from the classroom to online, leading to a distorted view of students’ new learning context with HE. This was an unchartered experience of transition for students. Scanlon et al. (2007, p.223) suggest that issues related to identity development of first-year students can be associated with a ‘naïve “knowledge about”, rather than contextualized “knowledge of”, the new learning context’. However, student identity formation was significantly more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the reduction of time spent on campus and less interaction with peers (Kyne & Thompson, 2020). Resch et al. (2022: 1) comment that although the online environment allowed more flexibility in terms of space and time, there were significant detrimental effects, namely ‘limited forms of communication concerning academic content, limited relational aspects of communication, and fewer possibilities of expressing emotions due to the obstruction of para-verbal and non-verbal communication’. Importantly, Baik et al. (2019) in a study reporting on a survey of 2,776 students, found that university staff (in this case lecturers and administrators) played a key role in supporting students to develop knowledge of the university and its systems and identify as a student. The role of staff would be especially pertinent considering the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, however opportunities to interact with staff on a more ad-hoc basis were significantly limited.

Social integration into HE has long been an area of concern for students making the move to university and is a crucial aspect of student identity within HE (Jensen et al., 2015; Tinto, 1975). Socially, the transition to HE can be challenging for many. The idea that social integration can impact students’ commitment at university has been widely accepted within the relevant literature (Beil et al., 1999; Buote et al., 2007). It is a time of significant social upheaval for many students as they manage the move away from home, develop new friendships and attempt to maintain pre-existing friendships (Hultberg at al., 2008). Literature suggests that students may struggle to develop a sense of ‘connectedness’ with others during their first semester at university (Christie et al., 2008). Moreover, that many students have reported that this negative early experience can have an adverse impact on the rest of their time at university (Ahn et al., 2020), emphasising the importance of a smooth transition to HE. There are many examples to illustrate how HE institutions aim to support first-year students, realising the challenges they face and adjustments they need to make, such as Induction activities, peer mentoring programmes or personal tutor meetings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely hampered opportunities for social integration in moving to online spaces, thus limiting face-to-face interactions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the adjustment to online teaching impacted students transition to university and significantly their wellbeing (McKay et al., 2021). Developing new friendships is reported to have a significant impact on students’ social adjustment to university (Buote et al., 2007). Therefore, it is not surprising that the necessary isolation from others significantly impacted students’ wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic (Mckay et al., 2021).

Academic integration into HE has also been recognised as a prominent concern for students entering university for the first time. Tinto’s (1975) seminal work argues that those students that quickly develop or have the necessary academic skills to perform, settle quickly into university life. National policies to widen participation in HE have diversified the nature and needs of new undergraduates and it is recognised that universities with pre-university outreach programmes and those with student-focused staff, lower staff to student ratios and institution-wide academic skills development programmes and best placed to support a diverse student body (Yorke et al., 2003). It is widely understood that undergraduates develop their student identity within the university learning environment and culture and there is a growing body of research, that recognises that improving the student experience for all, also benefits new students (Meehan et al., 2018).

The pandemic has affected where students learn. With less teaching on campus, undergraduates have had a vastly distinct experience to those who came before (McKay et al., 2021). Starting university is challenging (Baik et al., 2015), having less direct engagement with academic culture, campus life and other learners the pandemic has impacted on students’ learning experience and engagement (Xunquian et al., 2022; McKay et al., 2021). It is well documented that enrolment does not automatically guarantee academic success (Arkoudis et al., 2019). Serventy et al. (2022), in research with learners in Australia, suggest that the pandemic has also impacted on students staying the course. While emergency remote education cannot be viewed as a viable alternative to face-to-face lectures and seminars, it is worth exploring the experiences of learners during this time to ascertain if there are any positive features of transition in relation to academic and social integration that can be transferred to the post-pandemic era.

During the paired interviews, all participants said that they felt as though they were ‘university students’, demonstrated by their commitment to study, engagement in online learning and submitting work on time, however not all felt a sense of belonging to their university. Participant 1, University A commented:

Missing out on the typical university experiences such as physically attending lectures and seminars, feeling part of a cohort of students, and seeing other students at the campus influenced how the participants viewed themselves in relation to their universities. As Scanlon et al., (2007) assert, social interaction and integration within the new student community is critical in fostering a sense of belonging to the institution, in addition to becoming familiar with the environment. As Participant 3, University B further explains:

Parmentier et al., (2021) comment on the value of anticipatory emotions among adolescents in the transition to HE, particularly in the way in which young people imagine what will happen and visualise how they will behave. While the participants in the study were able to partially envisage how their time at university might look and feel positive about this, there was a significant level of uncertainty, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the realisation of not being able to have the typical experience of being at university.

It could be argued that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring restrictions on face-to-face teaching resulted in a focus on the quality of curricula delivery by HEIs, but the same consideration was not given to nurturing learner communities. It could also be argued that this was due to the unforeseen nature of the pandemic and the various challenges of online learning such as a lack of experience among teaching staff, information gaps and adverse home environments (Rahman et al., 2021).

While the concept of academic belonging is viewed as integral in developing a student identity (Jensen et al., 2015; Tinto, 1975), participants felt that the online learning experience was detrimental in nurturing valuable informal learning conversations essential to belonging to the university, particularly when didactic in nature. An intrinsic sense of belonging was able to be nurtured in discussions with peers on their course as well as with lecturers (Baik et al., 2019). In Pre-COVID times such conversations would have happened outside the formal parameters of the seminar or lecture and could be conceived as opportunistic dialogues. A lack of opportunity for social learning with new course friends was identified as missing from their experience of studying, as participants from both universities commented:

It should be noted that there was a variation in the opportunities for face-to-face learning at both institutions. University A did not provide any face-to-face learning during the pandemic. Conversely, university B offered some in-person contact time for students at the beginning of the new academic year. Students noted that it was a challenge to develop meaningful relationships with fellow students even with limited face-to-face contact:

McInnis (2004) notes that the contribution by university to first-year transition is more than instruction and curriculum content and identifies several enablers which can assist students during this time, such as a strong campus culture and encouraging the development of peer and academic learning communities. Krishnakumar et al. (2022) further note that while online learning allows for increased opportunities for self-direction and autonomy, this is driven by the individual and that the global pandemic may have reduced perceived autonomy due to reduced interaction with peers.

In recognising this challenge, Participant 3, University B commented:

In recognising some of the social challenges associated with online learning, both institutions attempted to orchestrate opportunities to promote friendships on the programmes via group assignments.

Both institutions required their first-year students to complete online group work assignments as part of the programme delivery and to provide opportunities for the students to get to know each other. However, there was variability in how successful this experience was both within and across the institutions:

Students commented on the variability in responses by their peers due to the online nature of the tasks set, further supporting the assertion by Krishnakumar et al. (2022) that individual learner behaviours play a role in their ability to thrive in online learning situations. A variance in learner behaviour had the potential to cause tension during group work, as Participant 3, University B commented:

The participants acknowledged that some of the issues around commitment levels to group work were exacerbated by the online format. However, this was mainly related to the nature of the participants in the group and individual levels of self-efficacy and autonomy (Rahman et al., 2021). Discussions with the participants reflected the varying success of working online in groups, with some having a more positive experience of group work than others.

Participant 3, University B’s comment below is an effective summary of the general feelings expressed by participants of their experiences of online learning during the pandemic. While it can be argued that the participants for this study were atypical in terms of their high engagement, level of satisfaction with online learning processes and were proactive in developing their academic identity, a common feature was the importance of interaction with staff and fellow students. They were keen for increased face-to-face teaching and in-person social opportunities:

Engaging in online learning and completing assignments to a high standard encouraged the participants to develop a sense of academic belonging with identity strongly aligned with being ‘university students.’ This was despite the social challenges which hampered a sense ‘connectedness’ between students:

However, the comments accentuate the importance of the social aspects of university and awareness of participants that they were unable to have the full student experience due to the restrictions brought on by the pandemic (McKay et al., 2021). The type and extent of social belonging to university varied amongst the participants and this was perhaps related to their living situation and their expectations about university (Participant 1 and 2 both living at home, Participant 1 living with their parents and Participant 2 living in their own home) and (Participant 3 and 4 – both living in student accommodation away from home). However, all participants valued social belonging in terms of spending time learning with course peers:

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, two of the participants proactively engaged in as many volunteering activities as possible to feel more like a university student. They felt that this was an enriching part of their first-year experience at university:

This proactivity in engaging in the wider aspects of university life was significant for developing a sense of belonging, and a way to overcome enforced social isolation due to the pandemic, but this did not appear to fully mitigate for the loss of learning opportunities with course peers.

An intrinsic motivation to study as a new student at university was hampered by enforced restrictions on face-to-face engagement with peers and course lecturers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the response to the constraints placed was to offer students online lectures and seminars, both asynchronous and synchronous, students were often passive recipients of materials delivered. While Xunquian et al. (2022) argue that online learning can strengthen classroom engagement when sessions use problem-based learning, due to the spontaneous and unexpected nature of the online delivery, many lecturers were not equipped in, or confident with, the necessary IT skills to develop high-quality problem-based learning as part of their curriculum. Lecturers within the present study had spent time over the summer becoming accustomed with the operational aspects of online learning but had no practical delivery experience. The approach taken by many universities was to offer lecture recordings (with timetables offered as a guide to structure students’ work routines) and a greater amount of ‘online’ learning. Participants initially reported enjoying the online learning experience, however this waned over time:

The flexibility of working from home and not needing to travel was another benefit of the online learning. While participants reported that they felt they were able to work independently more effectively there was a recognition that learning remotely did not allow for time to discuss ideas and thoughts with lecturers on a one-to-one basis:

There was an acknowledgement that perhaps their perspectives of enjoying the online experience were not common to all students:

The level of enjoyment the participants identified in online learning was an unexpected finding, but with a recognition from the participants themselves that they were outside the ‘norm’ compared with the experiences of their fellow students, it was also apparent that the finding came with several caveats. Certainly, for some of the participants there was a sense of online learning fatigue that began to set in and a challenge to levels of motivation for all students on the programmes:

This may have been related to the novelty of the process wearing off, but also as of January 2021 the participants would have been experiencing the lockdown that both countries had been returned to, alongside assignment deadline pressures. Turning attention to completing assignments became instrumental in the development of academic belonging as it provided students with a clear purpose and a goal to reach, thus moving away from the frustrations of limited social interaction and engagement with the university campus environment.

While students faced significant challenges with the constraints of online learning and feelings of isolation, individual determination and personal insight were key features of ensuring that students were able to manage some of the challenges that they faced. In understanding the transitory and unprecedented nature of the move to online learning and the contextual pressures upon universities to deliver curricula and for students to engage, perhaps enabled students to see that some of the challenges faced were beyond their control and that circumstances would change for the better in due course.