The relationship among university students' sense of school community, institutional integration and academic success

The aim of this research is to figure out the associations among university students sense of school community, academic success and institutional integration. Therefore, the research is designed in the relational screening model as it aims to examine the relationships between multiple variables. "Sense of Community Index-2 (SCI-2)" which was developed by Chavis, Lee, Acosta (2008) and translated into Turkish by the researcher and "Institutional Integration Scale" which was developed by Pascarella and Terenzini (1980) and translated into Turkish by Tuna (2010) were used in the research as a data collection tool. The research was conducted on 733 students in Firat University, Elazığ and Munzur University, Tunceli. The data gathered by the research was analyzed by using; percentage, frequency, the independent t-test from the parametric tests for the normal distributions and Mann Whitney U-test from the non-parametric tests for non-normal distributions. Relations among variables were determined by Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis. According to the findings of the research; while the sense of school community of the students participating in the research showed significant differences according to the university, student club membership, membership to the civil society organization and the residence of the students, there were no significant differences in terms of gender, student loan, and punishment variable. According to the findings of the research, the institutional integration of the students who participated in the research; while there is a significant difference between university, gender, student club membership and residence of the students, there is no significant difference in terms of student loan and punishment variable. According to the findings of the research, a significant and positive relationship was found between the level of institutional integration of students and the sense of community. In addition, there was a positive correlation between academic achievement and institutional integration. Findings from regression analysis revealed that the sense of community was a significant predictor of the level of institutional integration. It is concluded that the level of institutional integration predicts students' academic achievement at a low level. Based on these results, various suggestions have been developed for educational stakeholders, education policy makers and practitioners about the importance of community feeling and integration with institutions in higher education institutions.