Beyond the welcome week: turning first impressions into lasting engagement
Belonging is fundamental to student success. A 2026 study of nearly 80,000 undergraduate students’ psychological well-being found that spending face-to-face time socialising and taking part in family obligations was the biggest factor influencing mental health. As the student journey evolves, universities must explore new ways to create and sustain learners’ connection and interactions with the institution and the wider academic community.
“Orientation is the moment where the student journey begins on campus and the first step on the way to adjusting to a new world, a new environment and a new life,” says Nathan Meyer, director of marketing at Guidebook. “Orientation sets the tone for what is to come. When I speak to a lot of universities, this is where they really start thinking about where belonging is built, but it’s also where many fear belonging is lost.”
Research suggests that if students are not engaged early on, it’s hard to build connections further down the road. “From a retention standpoint, if a student leaves orientation not feeling like they’re connected to the campus, it’s very difficult to get them back on track with the first-year plan of engagement,” Meyer says.
Universities that view orientation as a one-off or short-term event are overlooking opportunities to foster a lasting sense of connection among learners. For students, it is part of a continuous journey that helps them ease into university life. However, at many institutions, this journey can be fragmented.
Rather than relying solely on large-scale orientation programmes, adopting a community-led approach can help institutions to create meaningful connections for different types of learners. “When you focus on creating smaller moments throughout orientation, you start to be able to capture different students and personalities,” says Meyer.
However, it can be a challenge for universities to ensure these experiences align with the needs and preferences of all learners. “Some students still want large events with all the bells and whistles,” says Meyer. “And some are there to focus on their academic success and want to meet a few like-minded people or find the right space on campus. That’s why today you also need to design engagement on a smaller scale.”
Many universities are still relying heavily on print to deliver information, which may not always be the best way of engaging with students. Digital tools can help universities create a more joined-up, personalised student journey while preserving the human interactions that build belonging. Guidebook is a technology platform that enables institutions to build custom mobile apps, giving students easy access to university information, events, resources and campus updates.
According to Meyer, events are about connection, learning and engagement. Guidebook believes that seamless communication, interactive maps, personalised agendas and real-time updates can help universities design events and experiences that turn initial student interactions into engagement and belonging throughout their academic journey.
The need for human connection has become more important in the digital era, but so have the barriers to it, says Meyer. “Our mission as a company is to get students away from their phones by showing them where they need to be,” he says. “Ultimately, what we want to do is help people find their place, their space, their people, and then have that in-person connection where university life starts to make sense for them.”
