The Feeling of Belonging and Inclusion in a European Outermost University

It is our wish to describe the development of a transnational research project, aiming to enhance the feeling of belonging and inclusion, as a way of improving student and staff’s wellbeing, particularly at a university of a European outermost region, Madeira. Even though similar studies have been carried out in other four European universities, this paper is only focused on the University of Madeira.

The multiple case study method was used [1-3], based on documentary analysis, surveys and focus group techniques [4] for the collected data triangulation.

Inspired in “Impact Gaps Canvas” [5] and the “Six Conditions of Systems Change” [6], the paper wishes to convey a quick view about the process and the results in terms of policy recommendations to improve the feeling of belonging, at the University of Madeira, expecting it has a positive impact on student and staff experience and quality of learning and teaching, according to the literature review.