A real rollercoaster of confidence and emotions': learning to be a university student, Studies in Higher Education, 33:5, 567-581, Accounts of emotion and affect have gained popularity in studies of learning. This article draws on qualitative research with a group of non-traditional students entering an elite university in the UK to illustrate how being and becoming a university student is an intrinsically emotional process. It argues that feelings of loss and dislocation are inherent to the students' experiences of entering university, and that 'coming to know' a new community of practice is an emotional process that can incorporate feelings of alienation and exclusion, as well as of excitement and exhilaration. A broader understanding of how students learn then depends not just upon the individual's emotional commitment to developing a new learning identity, but on the emotional interaction between the student and the learning environment of the university. IntroductionIndividuals entering higher education, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds, often have to adapt to changed ways of learning in order to get the greatest benefit from their course. But universities too must adapt to the changing needs of the 'new' learners, and questions are being asked about the role of university culture in supporting or impeding learning. It is becoming clear that learning is a profoundly reflexive and emotional construct, that entails the undoing of earlier learning as students enter a new environment with different subjects, learning approaches and teaching styles. In addition, learning does not take place within the realm of individual cognition. The entire person, group or even organisation is part of the learning process, and universities can influence a student's learning through an environment that encourages an active learner approach (Zepke, Leach, and Prebble 2006). These accounts of learning open up the emotional dimensions of individual (and organisational) learning, and draw attention to the complex nature of the learning process. Some learning can involve upsetting experiences, leading to feelings of psychological vulnerability and insecurity. Other learning experiences are positive and can engender feelings of hopeful anticipation, exhilaration and discovery (Griffiths, Winstanley, and Gabriel 2005, 275).In this article we examine some of the theoretical and empirical issues surrounding the powerful emotional component of learning amongst higher education students, based on the experiences of a sample of non-traditional students who entered an 'elite' Scottish university directly from further education colleges.

This article explores some of the issues surrounding student retention at two contrasting universities in Scotland. It is based on a relatively small-scale quantitative survey of students who withdrew or continued, in order that direct comparisons may be made between the two groups. This comparison allows analysis of the constraints and opportunities that face all young people during their time in higher education, and the circumstances under which students decide to withdraw. This shows widespread and similar ®nancial dif®culties amongst students who continue and those who withdraw, suggesting that it is more useful to look at the points at which similar pressures seem bearable for one student but not for another. The research indicates that important factors in the decision to withdraw include: poor choice of course; limited social support networks; and lack of`®t' between student and institution. While there is macro-level evidence of a class gradient in withdrawal rates, the evidence unpacks more fully the reasons why students from a range of socio-economic backgrounds decide to leave university early.

I investigate the mobility decisions of students going into higher education in the UK, and look particularly at the circumstances under which students in one higher education market chose to live at home and their experiences of attending a local university. As more young people from nontraditional backgrounds are encouraged to participate in higher education, and as the financial costs of attending are increasingly borne by students and their families, more students are choosing to stay at home for financial reasons. I explore the advantages and disadvantages of students' decisions to live at home in the context of normative debates which stress the value of spatial mobility to the student lifestyle. While the evidence supports the argument that living at home is an economically rational decision for students from nontraditional backgrounds, it is also steeped in young peoples' emotional attachments to locally based networks of family and friends. Further, the connections between living at home and social and educational disadvantage amongst university students are investigated. The analysis shows that disadvantage is not associated with living at home per se, but is related to students' patterns of working, studying, and commuting.

This paper offers an interpretation of how housing markets work which complements more traditional economic approaches. Building on a wider movement within cultural economy and economic sociology, it considers how (housing) markets are variously performed in the power-filled negotiations of buyers, sellers and market professionals. This is part of a larger undertaking, but here the focus is particularly on the role of legal, financial and information intermediaries in shaping local cultures of property exchange. This is a social rather than economic analysis of housing markets; it is a qualitative rather than a quantitative study. It is designed to shed light on how markets are made, though it might, in the end, change the way they are modelled.

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