Introduction - During their university years, students experience a decisive phase in their personal and professional development. The academic environment, interactions with peers and faculty, individual skills and abilities, previous experiences, and relationships define a foundational framework for well-being and create the basis for well-being in adulthood (Figueira et al. 2017; Morales et al. 2020; Soto et al. 2023).


Purpose - The qualitative study, promoted by the University of Venice, emerged from the need to shed light on students' experiences and contextualize their well-being with the aim of identifying key areas for intervention and implementing evidence-based strategies to enhance overall well-being.


Method - The research design was based on semi-structured interviews with 17 key observers from the student community (59% female, age μ = 24.58), including undergraduate, master, and doctoral students holding representative or tutoring roles. The interview guide addressed themes including perceptions of society, time perception, relationships, university, life purpose, and soft-skills. The data were subjected to content analysis within a constructivist perspective utilizing Nvivo 15.2.


Results - Based on the interviews, participants were categorized into three main groups ('good', neutral', 'bad') according to their evaluation of overall student wellbeing. The analysis yielded four overarching categories: University, Relationships, Individual, and Time. The findings reveal differences between the groups in terms of perceived social support, mattering to the institution, experiences of time pressure, and levels of anxiety. A sort of specularity is noticed between the 'good' and the 'bad' group.


Conclusions - Students appear to have a general need to be in a community that, through a continuous dialogue with them, both at an institutional level and relational level with peers and faculty, actively fosters well-being. The findings should provide policy makers and university institutions with concrete tools to develop and implement targeted interventions to strengthen student wellbeing within the academic community.