Unpacking Diversity in UK Commuter Students' Experiences

Maslin, Emma

Abstract

In the United Kingdom around a quarter of undergraduate students are considered ‘commuters'. Despite this little is known about this group, partly due to a lack of a wider UK Higher Education (HE) sector definition. Existing research has focused on what unites these students; their shared challenges and experiences across the student lifecycle. However, this approach ignores the diversity of commuter students, presuming that all face the same barriers and consequently have the same experiences. This chapter challenges this conception, exploring instead what divides these students in the context of three universities in the North East and Yorkshire regions of the United Kingdom, both underexplored regions in respect to commuter students' experiences. Data was collected from 14 participants through a multi-sited ethnography comprising of go-along interviews, participant observation, and instant messaging tool ‘WhatsApp’. Overall, participants' experiences of commuting were heterogeneous, both within and across institutions. Even within a singular commuter's experience, their university experiences could differ. Consequentially, this ethnographic approach indicates the need to refine our understanding of this student groups' experience with greater complexity than has been previously done.

Citation

Maslin, E. (2024). Unpacking Diversity in UK Commuter Students' Experiences. In V. Boliver, & N. Siddiqui (Eds.), Researching Social Inequalities in Higher Education: Access, Diversity and Inclusion (81-99). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003452430-8

• Online Publication Date: Sep 10, 2024
• Publication Date: Sep 10, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 11, 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 81-99
• Book Title: Researching Social Inequalities in Higher Education: Access, Diversity and Inclusion
• Chapter Number: 6
• ISBN: 9781003452430
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003452430-8
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2744857
• Contract Date: Jan 1, 2024