INTRODUCTION: NETWORKS, RELATIONSHIPS AND STUDENT SECURITY

The literature on social capital distinguishes bonding and bridging networks. ‘Bonding’ means ties of family, kin, locality, friends like oneself and ethnic or fraternal organisations. It tends to exclude outsiders. ‘Bridging’ ties are more open and inclusive. They bring people together with others different from themselves. Educational institutions can facilitate horizontal bridging between people of different classes, localities, cultural backgrounds and nations.

Both forms of association contribute to international student security. Weiss argues that ‘different types of relationship make different provisions’. People have varying needs and multiple linkages and networks. He nominates six kinds of provision: ‘attachment, social integration, reliable alliance, guidance, reassurance of worth and opportunity for nurturance’. No relationship fulfils all needs, though intimate relations with a partner may fulfil several of them. Weiss distinguishes ‘social loneliness’ triggered by desires for social integration, attachment and alliance, from ‘emotional loneliness’. In a study of university students DiTommaso and Spinner confirm the categories of social and emotional loneliness and, within emotional loneliness, distinguish between family loneliness and romantic loneliness.