Commuting to class: an ethnography of commuter students’ experiences of UK Higher Education.

Abstract

In UK Higher Education (HE) around a quarter of undergraduate students are considered ‘commuters’ yet little is still known about this group, largely due to the absence of a sector-agreed definition and accompanying sector-wide data. This thesis seeks to address this gap in the literature through exploring the lived experiences of commuter students in HE at three universities in the North of England. Through an innovative combination of methods I deepen known understanding of what being a commuter student is like through exploring not just how commuter students experience their commute, but their interaction with the places and spaces that collectively influence their wider university experience. Using actor-network theory (ANT) in combination with the multi-sited ethnography (MSE) this thesis employs also enables identification of the networks of people and things that commuter students are situated in that affect their commuting practices. The findings of this thesis highlight how the deficit narrative previously purveyed around commuter students’ experiences do not reflect the complexity and heterogeneity that permeates across their lived experiences of travel, their arrival on campus, experiences of their academic studies and interaction with wider university life. Further research is necessary across different institutions and regions to continue building a richer understanding of what it is like to be a commuter student in the UK.