Invisible threads: how ethnic-minority students weave belonging in higher education

As higher education (HE) systems become increasingly diverse, understanding the development of students’ sense of belonging (SoB) is crucial, particularly for ethnic-cultural minorities. Existing research on student belonging largely relies on cross-sectional designs, leaving a gap in understanding how belonging unfolds over time. This qualitative, longitudinal study examines how SoB develops dynamically over time within a relatively open-access HE system (Flanders), where financial and admission barriers are limited but social inequalities persist. This study employs qualitative content analysis highlighting four cases selected out of 31 participants. The findings demonstrate that SoB is not fixed but changes in terms of how and to what extent it manifests itself as students navigate evolving personal, social, and academic contexts. While confirming several established mechanisms – such as peer homophily, representation gaps, and the role of academic identity – this study further reveals how students actively redefine belonging, sometimes positioning it as both a means to academic success and an end in itself. Agency is expressed in students’ strategic identity work, friendship formation, and adaptation to institutional structures, though always within broader structural and cultural constraints. The study highlights the need for differentiated institutional support that recognizes the multiplicity of belonging trajectories and calls for future research to explore the interplay between individual agency, intersectional identity, and institutional context in shaping university SoB.