Sense of Place: Place Identity, Place Attachment and Place Dependence Among University Students

Abstract

University is a phase where students start their life by exploring and forming relationships with people and their surroundings. This scenario can be seen as a steppingstone for these individuals to establish their identity and pursue their future goals. Thus, having such a significant impact on the lives of individuals, the sense of place towards the educational institute such as the university is regarded as significant because it helps to form the students' sense of belonging at their place of study. Students and the university developed a sense of place based on three concepts: place identity, place attachment, and place dependence. Using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 'Strongly Disagree' to 'Strongly Agree,' 33 respondents were required to complete online self-administered surveys about students' sense of place. IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to analyse the data because it is the most common software for analysing data in quantitative research studies. All three concepts of place scored higher than the mean of 5.0, indicating a strong sense of belonging to their university, with aggregate means of 5.66, 5.26, and 5.19 for Place Identity, Place Attachment, and Place Dependence, respectively. Thus, a strong sense of place suggests that these students have a subjective and emotional attachment or connection to a specific location or environment, in this instance, their university.