Fostering Students’ Social Capital
Improving retention in the era of
mass education
Lin’s definition of social capital
“social capital, which is not the individual’s
possessed goods, but resources accessible
through direct and indirect ties. Access to and
use of these resources is temporary and
borrowed in the sense that the actor does not
possess them. A friend’s bicycle is one’s social
capital. One can use it to achieve a certain goal,
but it must be returned to the friend.”
Bonding and Bridging Social Capital

Bonding social capital is interaction with
people similar to oneself. This is the more
usual type.

Bridging social capital is interaction with
those different to yourself. This is seen as
more valuable as it can potentially aid
social mobility.
Higher education minister Bill
Rammell:
“The most challenging statistic is that if you
come from the top two socio-economic groups,
you've got an 80% chance of going to university.
If you come from the bottom two socioeconomic groups, it's only 20%. In the fourth
richest economy in the world in the 21st century
this is unacceptable.”
Higher Education and Social Capital
Hypothesis 1: Economic, cultural and social capital affect
your ability to go to university and to choose which
university to go to.
Hypothesis 2: Economic capital dictates the opportunity
structure to form friendship networks at university (e.g.
part-time work, halls etc) and cultural capital can
optimise your ability and confidence to do so.
Higher Education and Social Capital
Hypothesis 3: Social capital at university can provide
academic and financial support.
Hypothesis 4: Having a university career and a network
of graduate friends can enhance your social capital in the
long-term, but the value of this social capital is partly
dictated by the type of institution you went to i.e.
Oxbridge, Rusel Group, Post-1992.
Students impeded in developing
friendship networks
 Those
living outside halls in their first year
 Distance students, especially those in the
parental home
 Mature students
 Part-time students
 Students with outside commitments
 Those with part-time jobs
Brenda and Tracey
“You know you get more help from Brenda and
Tracey in the café and everyone calls them their
Uni Mums because people do want someone,
especially people that do come here straight
away from A levels as well, you need someone
with all these questions. Not just academic ones
but all personal support and everything. You
don’t want to go and see a stranger, you need to
be able to build a relationship.”
Female, 26, White British, Third Year
Halls students
“My halls weren’t actual halls they were flats.
There was about six people so actually you only
spoke to six people, who turned out to be
complete bitches. The halls in Digby and
Southlands are like halls halls, and then there’s
like Froebel and Mount Clare that aren’t like
halls. They’re like flats, unless you get on with
the people, you’re buggered.”
Female, 21, White British, Third year
An off-campus student that withdrew
“Well I feel one of the main reasons I left was
because I felt excluded from my class, I found it
hard to mix with others as most people lived on
campus we had nothing to talk about, I felt out
of place which made me feel horrible and alone
so I didn’t create study groups. Which meant all
work was done on my own.”
Female, 18, White British, First year
A “Non-traditional” student settling in
“I’m a person that waits until I’m
comfortable, but some seminar groups
they over take the whole discussion and
then their twenty four hour [drinking]
binge and I have nothing to say except I
bake cakes for my kids.”
Female, 26, Black Caribbean, First year
Off-campus students
“I exchanged telephone numbers with people expecting
them to call me or me to call them and you just don’t,
you just do the work yourself, hand it in and, go home,
and that’s probably what I miss being a mature student
and living off campus, is that sort of network you have,
you say hello to people in class then its “bye-bye see
you next week”, and it’s quite isolating if you do that.”
Female 39, White British, Second year (part-time)
Discussion
What else can be done to help students develop
networks?
Do you feel it is the institution’s responsibility?
If you have any enquiries please email me:
a.curtis@roehampton.ac.uk