“Harder than expected”: a qualitative analysis of how students construct what it means to be a university student in 2023

Associated with long-established notions of academic success, student engagement is a key concern for higher education providers. While the body of literature in this area continues to expand, it largely fails to capture the complexities of what it means to be a student in current times, with few qualitative studies exploring the student experience post-pandemic. Given the global and societal shifts since 2020, the threats of which (e.g. financial) are related to increased stress for students, there is an urgent need for such research. We explored how students construct what it means to be a student in 2023, with a specific focus the barriers and facilitators to engagement. Following a successful pilot project aimed at enhancing student engagement with their qualitative research methods training in 2022, undergraduate psychology students co-created the qualitative research project from the ground up as part of their research methods learning and assessment. Underpinned by participatory action-based methodology, we invited a full cohort (N=138) of Level 5 Psychology students to be co-researchers in qualitative survey design and data collation, resulting in 77 responses to 10 open questions. Students and staff conducted individual reflexive thematic analyses (TA) on the data, with findings discussed as part of the recursive process of TA. Initial findings indicate that students encounter structural and psychological challenges that impact on their emotional and pedagogical engagement at university. These challenges are underpinned by implicit social ideals of student life as generally undemanding, which shape expectations of university and evolving student identity.