Diversity climate at universities: How students experience diversity and how this relates to academic success, well-being and attitudes towards diversity

Diversity climate (DC) describes students’ perception of diversity at the university. It includes the quantity and quality of contact between diverse students, and the norms and values that the university – especially teachers – convey to students regarding diversity. Concerning ethnic diversity, data from a longitudinal survey of Bachelor students at a German university (N = 521) found that students’ perception of DC predicted individual academic achievement, well-being and attitudes towards diversity. Students with a migration background experienced DC more negatively than students without a migration background did. The results suggest that students benefit when teachers explicitly value ethnic diversity and promote cooperation among ethnically diverse students instead of ignoring differences in students’ experiences and privileges.