Embedded academic learning support program: fields, rules of the game, and capital development in an Australian regional university

Research has highlighted the importance of academic learning support programs in universities for improving accessibility and academic engagement, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper draws on qualitative survey data to examine the contributions of an embedded academic learning support program for first-year students at an Australian regional university. The program integrates core academic skills into first-year subjects and serves a diverse student cohort, including students from low socio-economic status backgrounds, Indigenous students, regional, rural and remote students, and international students. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and capital, the paper explores how the program supports students to develop capitals across intersecting institutional, national, and global higher education fields. Drawing on responses from 953 participants, the study finds that the program helps students gain and mobilise multiple forms of capital, navigate the rules of academic fields, and strengthen reflective practice and social belonging. The findings highlight the value of embedded academic skills programs that attend to students’ trajectories, habitus, and the rules of academic fields in order to support capital development while promoting educational and social equity.