Insights from the 2025 Welcome Survey are shaping improvements to Welcome 2026 and informing wider work to strengthen students’ sense of community and belonging throughout their LSE experience.
Each year, LSE’s Welcome Survey captures how new students feel as they arrive and experience their first few weeks at the School and the findings will help to shape Welcome 2026 to be a positive experience for all new students.
Welcome is coordinated by the Student Communities Operational Group (SCOG), which includes the Student Communities team in Student Learning and Personal Development (SLPD). Along with Welcome Back and Graduations it is a key student transition point and central to building community and belonging.
Learnings from Welcome 2025
Engagement with Welcome was high, with 99% of students attending at least one event and 95% identifying events that stood out positively.
Students consistently highlighted the value of events, societies and informal socialising in helping them make friends and feel part of LSE, alongside positive interactions with staff and a welcoming campus atmosphere.
Despite many positive takeaways from the results, the data highlighted the differences in experience across our community, with Black students and students with a declared disability reporting lower levels of belonging and overall satisfaction. However, work to address these differences is already underway, and the picture has improved on last year, including 82% describing their Welcome experience as excellent or good (up from 71% last year) and 90% said they were satisfied with the programme of events (75% last year).
Read more about the Welcome Survey results
What’s changing for Welcome 2026
The Student Communities team is working closely with colleagues across the School to turn these findings into practical improvements for Welcome 2026 and develop broader improvements across the academic year, including:
- A more joined-up and collaborative approach with colleagues across the School to planning Welcome, and embed recommendations throughout the process - including working closely with EDI, LSESU, and LSE LIFE
- Engaging expert groups to address differences in the Welcome experience for some students, such as working with the Disability @ LSE Working Group, the LSESU Black Student Experience Working Group, and the Race Equity Steering Group
- Working with specialist teams with teams to make activities more accessible including the Disability and Mental Health Service and Estates to design more inclusive Welcome activities
- Building on what already works to extend good practice, such as LSE Navigate, the Neurodivergent Student Academic Mentoring Scheme (ND SAMs), and Landing at LSE
- Co-creating and delivering events and activities with our students, including using recommendations from student societies, such as the London Commuter’s Society
- A stronger emphasis on London, helping students feel more connected to, and confident around, our city.
These developments sit alongside wider priority areas within the Student Communities Programme, informed by a data-led approach and supported by the Planning Division – including work on disabled and Black student experiences, commuter students, and projects linked to the University Mental Health Charter.
Together, this work aims to ensure that starting at LSE feels welcoming, inclusive and connected – and that students continue to feel part of the community long after Welcome ends.