The power of friendship and study collaboration on the development of students` sense of belonging: A three-year longitudinal study at Russian universities

Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 2026.

Vilkova K., Dremova O., Shcheglova I.

Social integration serves as an essential condition for fostering students’ sense of belonging. Although numerous factors contribute to social integration, it remains unclear which of them and to what extent shape students’ sense of belonging in the Russian context. Drawing on three waves of a longitudinal study of Russian undergraduate students, the research examines how key dimensions of social integration – friendship quantity, specifically, number of new friends, friendship quality, defined as close interpersonal relationships with classmates, study collaboration, and extracurricular involvement – contribute to students’ sense of belonging in selective Russian universities. The results indicate that a sense of belonging is shaped by the quantity of friendships and engagement in collaborative study, while friendship quality and extracurricular involvement do not play a significant role once students’ background characteristics are controlled for. These findings offer broader implications for the literature on students’ sense of belonging from a post-Soviet perspective.

Keywords: extracurricular activities, longitudinal study, friendship, Russian higher education, sense of belonging, study collaboration

Publication based on the results of: The formation of a national higher education system: key changes and their effects (2025)