Conference Agenda

Theoretical framework. In today’s complex world, so-called generic skills are increasingly needed in various areas of life. In this study, the concept of ‘generic skills’ refers specifically to higher-order thinking skills such as critical thinking and argumentation (see Tuononen et al., 2022). Generic skills are highlighted as one of the key learning objectives in higher education at both institutional and policy level (Tuononen et al., 2022; Van Damme, 2022). However, it is known that not all students achieve these skills in a similar way. Previous research has shown that, for example, there is variation in early-stage higher education students’ generic skills (e.g. Kleemola, 2023; van der Zanden et al., 2019). Factors such as students’ socioeconomic background and prior education have been found to contribute to this variation (Evens et al., 2013; Kleemola et al., 2023). More information is still needed about different factors explaining variation in generic skills, especially among final-stage undergraduate students.

One relatively underexamined perspective concerns associations of students’ generic skills with their sense of belonging to higher education. Sense of belonging can be understood as students’ experiences of belonging and connectedness both to their institution itself and especially to the social relationships within it (Ahn & Davis, 2020; Dost & Mazzoli Smith, 2023; Pedler et al., 2022). Previous studies in a higher education context have shown that sense of belonging is associated with, for example, academic achievement and motivation (see e.g. Pedler et al., 2022; Verbree et al., 2025). Although there seems to be little research on the topic from the perspective of generic skills, for example, Møgelvang and Nyléhn (2023) found in their study a strong positive correlation between undergraduate students’ generic skills and sense of belonging. Since generic skills are seen as essential learning outcomes in higher education, it would be important to investigate the connection between them and sense of belonging in more detail.

Objectives. This study aims to examine associations of Finnish final-stage undergraduate students’ generic skills with their sense of belonging to higher education institution. The aim is to examine the extent to which sense of belonging explains variation in generic skills among students in the two Finnish higher education sectors—research-intensive universities and universities of applied sciences. The research questions are as follows: 1) To what extent is students’ sense of belonging to higher education institution associated with their generic skills? and 2) To what extent do students from different higher education sectors differ in these associations?

Problem Durumu

University students’ well-being has increasingly moved beyond being addressed solely through individual support services and has become a core educational issue that directly influences the quality of learning processes and the sustainability of students’ university experience. Rising levels of psychological distress, academic burnout, and dropout intentions indicate that student well-being cannot be explained only through individual resilience, but rather should be understood as a multidimensional construct shaped by instructional, relational, and institutional dynamics. In this context, student well-being is being repositioned as a central outcome of higher education, alongside academic achievement.

The literature conceptualises university students’ well-being as a multi-layered structure encompassing psychological, emotional, social, and academic dimensions, with increasing emphasis on integrative models that combine hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives (Baik & Larcombe, 2023; Hossain et al., 2023). Empirical studies demonstrate that well-being is strongly associated with academic engagement, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and intention to persist in higher education, while academic and social demands encountered during the transition to university render this domain particularly vulnerable (Duraku et al., 2024; Mascia et al., 2023). These findings highlight that student well-being cannot be reduced to individual characteristics alone and must be examined in relation to pedagogical and relational processes.

At the centre of these relational processes are faculty–student relationships. Research indicates that supportive, accessible, and respectful interactions with faculty members strengthen students’ psychological well-being, reduce stress levels, and foster more positive attitudes toward university life (Trolian et al., 2022; Xu et al., 2024). High-quality interactions are shown to enhance students’ academic engagement and learning satisfaction, while perceived faculty support plays a critical role in students’ feelings of being valued (Hathaway & Hamilton, 2025). However, existing studies remain limited in their ability to explicate the psychosocial mechanisms through which faculty–student relationships are translated into student well-being outcomes (Holles, 2023).

In this regard, sense of belonging emerges as a central psychosocial mechanism for explaining the link between faculty–student relationships and student well-being. Numerous studies have shown that students who feel accepted and perceive themselves as part of the academic community report higher psychological well-being, academic motivation, and learning satisfaction (Pedler et al., 2022; van Kessel et al., 2025). Conversely, weak sense of belonging has been associated with increased risks of loneliness, anxiety, and academic maladjustment, which negatively affect persistence in higher education (Nguyen et al., 2025). Despite this evidence, the literature has predominantly treated sense of belonging as an outcome variable, with limited attention to its mediating role in the process linking faculty–student relationships to student well-being within comprehensive models.

The European higher education context further accentuates this research gap. While policy frameworks such as the European Universities Initiative emphasise the strengthening of a shared European sense of belonging, student experiences continue to vary substantially across countries and institutional contexts (Lee et al., 2024; Galán-Cubillo et al., 2025). Nevertheless, quantitative and integrated models explaining the interactive relationships among faculty–student relationships, sense of belonging, and student well-being within the European higher education context remain scarce. This underscores the need for structural models that explicitly position sense of belonging as a mediating mechanism. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between faculty–student relationships and university students’ well-being through the mediating role of sense of belonging, using structural equation modeling.

The aim of this study is to explore higher education (HE) students’ perceived contextual resources contributing to their agency in the university course contexts. Student agency has become a central concept in HE policy and practice (Klemencic, 2023). It is seen as a goal and outcome of HE and as a process to help learners to direct their own learning (e.g., Lee, 2024; Klemencic, 2023; Mameli et al., 2023; Stenalt & Lassesen, 2022). OECD’s Learning Compass 2030 (OECD, 2019) raises student agency as a key feature in preparing students to cope with unpredictable future. Accordingly, HE should equip students with capabilities that help them to navigate in the (unknown) future and engage in lifelong learning (e.g., Klemencic, 2023). As argued by Yang and colleagues (2024) agency is, hence, the key for understanding HE students’ development and growth.

Common conceptualizations on HE student agency are generally aligned with OECD’s (2019) ideas, seeing student as an autonomous and active agent of one’s own learning and responsible for one’s own learning process (Lee, 2024). Stressing student agency as a goal of HE is expected also to influence curriculum practices (Lee, 2024). A large body of research shows that student-centered pedagogy promotes agency and learning (for review see Stenalt & Lassesen, 2022). Student-centered practices support student active participation, possibilities for making choices and influence on different phases of the learning process, monitoring and reflecting own learning as well as investing time and effort (e.g., Klemencic, 2023; Stenalt & Lassesen, 2022).

However, some researchers warn against overemphasizing students as free agents of their learning process for its neo-liberal connotations (Klemencic, 2023; Lee, 2024; Marginson, 2024) or rational autonomy (Lee, 2024). It is argued that the neo-liberal ideal of student agency sees students as possessing the competencies to autonomously control their learning irrespective of context and content (e.g., Ashwin, 2014; Lee, 2024; Marginson, 2024; Matusov et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2024). In addition, Su (2011, p. 402) argues that stressing student as an active, autonomous agent of one’s learning may lead into “performativity” where the student is expected to “develop the ability to cope and operate effectively” in the university and later in working life. The role of student agency in HE, then, is “merely a condition for society-serving student outcomes” (Klemencic, 2023, p. 12).

Consequently, recent studies on HE student agency call for more multidimensional approach to student agency stressing its personalized, contextual, relational and transformative nature (e.g., Jääskelä et al., 2023; Klemencic, 2023; Leijen et al., 2020) as well as specificity of the learning content or discipline for construction of student agency (Ashwin, 2014; Lee, 2024; Marginson, 2024). The scope of research on student agency has moved towards seeing it also through ontological lenses as students’ being and becoming (Biesta, 2009; Klemencic, 2023; Lee, 2024; Marginson, 2024; Matusov et al. 2016; Su, 2011; Yang et al., 2024) rather than seeing it plainly as instrumental and effortful (Matusov et al., 2016) or as knowing and doing (Su, 2011).

This study approaches student agency as a situated, contextual, dynamic and personalized construct. The different features of the learning context can foster or inhibit the enactment of agency, since students may perceive these conditions as enablers or constraints (Leijen et al., 2020). Important, then, is the meaning of students’ own perceptions of their agentic possibilities in accessing resources that support intentional and meaningful action and learning (person-centered approach, Billett, 2006; Mercer, 2012; Su, 2011). The aim of this study is to explore seven university students’ perceived contextual resources contributing to their agency in the context of two university courses.