Abstract

Acculturation of students to Higher Education (HE) and their integration into the social system of a university is their first step in developing academic skills and voice (Aoyama and Takahashi, 2020) and a primary contributor to successful transition to HE (Lochtie et al, 2018). The motivation of the new learner is intrinsically linked to such a context and to potentially evolving contradictory identities (Hashimoto, 2002) which can, through dissonance, result in negative coping behaviours as students physically and cognitively distance themselves (Bjork et al, 2020). This was the starting point for our pilot development of Social Identity Mapping (SIM) at Lincoln International Business School (LIBS) during 2020-21. We will build on this feasibility exploration to develop a wider evaluative framework.