ABSTRACT
Time at university can create an important social dimension for making lifelong friendships and professional connections. This interrelational experience is assisted by activities in degree programmes and social events that generate a sense of equality. This chapter will also discuss how arts methods are contributing to greater peer inclusivity.
Relationality for underrepresented students in Britain has for a long time been limited by preconditioned social networks that are firmly integrated in university cultures. Student communities in older universities, particularly Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, and other elite universities, contain social elements that are preformed through school and family connections. Students arriving in universities from underrepresented groups might find themselves in social exclusion zones, if they appear immediately different to the normative expectations.
Students could feel othered, or under pressure to conform and change their accents and their cultural associations, in peer group interactions. Social activities that form group bonding at universities often economically exclude students who do not have additional assistance from their relatives. This chapter goes into depth about how peer connections are affected by experiences of difference and othering, and how arts methods can form vital bonds across their university experiences.
