ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1637874
This article is part of the Research TopicHolistically healthy humans: championing mental and physical wellbeing in educationView all 5 articles
The Role of Informal Learning Spaces in Promoting Social Integration and Wellbeing in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hochschule Harz, Wernigerode, Germany
- 2University for Continuing Education Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
- 3Akdeniz Universitesi, Antalya, Türkiye
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The global mental health crisis, intensified by the post-pandemic context, calls for holistic approaches to wellbeing in higher education. This study examines how informal learning spaces (ILS) contribute to student wellbeing through the mediating role of social integration, with a focus on students facing personal challenges (FPC). While prior research highlights the relevance of physical learning environments for health, limited attention has been paid to how these spaces foster social and psychological outcomes. Drawing on Tinto's social integration model and the person-environment fit theory, this study explores two key questions: (1) Does social integration mediate the relationship between ILS availability/accessibility and student wellbeing? (2) Does FPC moderate the relationship between ILS and social integration? A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 932 university students from Austria, Germany, Italy, and Türkiye. Analysis showed that social integration mediates the relationship between ILS and wellbeing (β = 0.09). Moderation analysis indicated that the relationship between ILS and social integration was stronger for FPC students (β = .12), who reported significantly lower social integration when ILS were less accessible. Our findings present novel empirical evidence linking the physical learning environment to social integration and wellbeing, particularly for students facing personal challenges. These findings call for ILS to be intentionally designed as inclusive, welcoming, and supportive spaces that promote equity and wellbeing in higher education.
Keywords: wellbeing, informal learning spaces (ILS), Social integration, Mental Health, students facing personal challenges (FPC), Physical learning environment
Received: 29 May 2025; Accepted: 03 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Geister, Keser Aschenberger, Çetinkaya-Yıldız and Apaydın. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Filiz Keser Aschenberger, University for Continuing Education Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
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