In this follow-up episode, we dive deeper into the complex world of student attendance with fresh insights from new research across post-92 universities. Our guest revisits themes of motivation, belonging, and institutional pressure, sharing powerful student voices that reveal the lived realities behind attendance patterns. We explore why the context of post-92 institutions uniquely shapes attendance decisions and unpack how specific teaching practices can either encourage or discourage students from showing up.

Is attendance simply a metric, or could it be a valuable form of feedback for educators? We discuss how universities’ attendance policies measure up and whether they truly influence behavior or miss the mark. Finally, we consider the vital role of community and belonging in attendance and highlight the critical conversations universities must have now—with students, staff, and leadership—to foster more meaningful engagement on campus.

Tune in for an enlightening conversation that challenges assumptions and invites us to rethink how we support student presence and participation.

Tom Lowe has researched and innovated in student engagement across diverse settings for over ten years, in areas such as student voice, retention, employability and student-staff partnership. Tom works at the University of Westminster as Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting where he leads on student experience, outcomes and belonging. Tom is also the Chair of RAISE, a network for all stakeholders in higher education for researching, innovating and sharing best practice in student engagement. Prior to Westminster, Tom was a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth, and previously held leadership positions for engagement and employability at the University of Winchester. Tom has published two books on student engagement with Routledge; ‘A Handbook for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theory into Practice’ in 2020 and ‘Advancing Student Engagement in Higher Education: Reflection, Critique and Challenge’ in 2023, and has supported over 40 institutions in consultancy and advisory roles internationally.