Student mindset: emotional responses to the university learning journey

Drawing upon a longitudinal data set collected between 2018 and 2022, this paper examines students’ emotional responses at the start of their university learning journeys. From this data we suggest that students overall consistently report a positive, growth mindset. We show that this is a relatively stable attitude across disciplines and student backgrounds, even during the pandemic in 2020-2021. We also find that the beginning of students’ journeys at the University is characterised by a relatively strong set of emotions. Based on these findings we recommend that, as staff, we need to develop teaching and support that enables students to maintain this positive mindset whilst taking into account the emotional charge of the first weeks of university life.