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（55%）reportedthathalformoreoftheirfriendswereChubuUniversitystudents（althoughaworrying5students,for15%,reportedthat“none”oftheirfriendswereChubustudents）,and23students（70%）reportedthattheyhadpositiveormostlypositiverelationshipswithotherfirst-yearstudents.Studentsreportedsimilarlypositiveinteractionswithfaculty,with21students（64%）reportingpositiveormostlypositiverelationshipswiththeirinstructors.Someofthesemetricssawlittlechangewhenthecohortmovedintotheirsecondyear:58%ofthecontinuingstudentsreportedthathalformoreoftheirfriendswerefromtheEnglishDepartment,and62%reportedpositiverelationshipswiththeirclassmatesinthedepartment.Reportedrelationshipswithfaculty,however,improvedmarkedly:100%ofthestudentsreportedneutral-to-positiverelationshipswithfaculty,and79%reportedpositiveormostlypositiverelationshipsThesecondcohort,perhapsunexpectedly,showedlittlechangeinthesemetricsfromwhattheirupperclassmenshowedinthepreviousyear.62%reportedmostly-positiverelationshipswithclassmatesand60%reportedthesamewithdepartmentalfaculty.Ontheotherhand,only11students（33%）inthefirstcohortreportedpositiveormostlypositiverelationshipswithupperclassmeninthedepartment,andallbutoneoftheremainingstudents（21,for64%）reportedanambivalentneitherpositivenornegative”responsetothequestion.Furthertrackingofthispointwillbenecessary,buttherelationshipsbetweenclasseshastraditionallybeenseenasanimportantpartofthecharacterofthedepartmentwhichhas,anecdotallyatleast,beenharmedaftertheCOVID-19epidemicanditsfallout.Thisdidimprovesignificantlyinthestudents'secondyear,with58%ofstudentsreportingamostly-positiverelationshipwithupperclassmen.Thesecondcohortagainshowedsimilarresultstotheirseniors,with40%reportingapositiverelationshipwithupperclassmenandthebulkofthecohort,at55%,reportingambivalence.Thefinalimportantitemsonthesurveyconcernedwhostudentsturnedtowithacademicissues,andwhotheyturnedtowithanyotherissues.Multipleanswerswereallowedfortheseitems,butforbothstudentsclaimedoverwhelminglytoturntopeers:foracademicissues64%ofresponseswereafriend,eitherinthedepartment（44%）ouroutsideofit（20%）,andfornon-academicissuesthenumberwas51%,evenlysplitbetweenin-departmentandotherfriends.Thisiscertainlyunsurprising,aswasthenumberofstudentswhoturnedtofamilymembersforsupport（16%foracademicissues,and31%forotherissues）,butworryingtouswasthenumberofstudentswhorespondedthattheyturnedtoupperclassmenorfaculty.Only4%ofresponsesforacademicsupportwerefaculty,and7%upperclassmen,whilefornon-academicissuesitwas8%and3%respectively.Thislastcategoryshowedsignificantchangeasthestudentsmovedtotheirsecondyear,with38%ofrespondentsreportingthattheyturnedtofacultyadvicewithacademicissues,andeven17%reportingthesamefornon-academicissues.Thefirst-yearcohortalsoshowedsignificantlystrongerrelationshipswithfaculty,withfully30%reportingthattheycametotheirinstructorswithacademicissues.Again,anecdotallythefacultyinthedepartmentfeelthatthestrengthoftherelationshipsbetweenstudentsandfaculty,andbetweenstudentsofdifferentacademicyears,isaparticularstrongpointofdepartmentalculture,whichwouldworktowardsthesortofacademicandsocialintegrationthatTintosuggestsissoimportanttonewstudents.Ingeneral,atthisearlystageofthestudy,resultssuggestthatwhilestudentsseemtobeintegratingsmoothlyasaclassoffirst-yearstudents,withfriendshipsbeingformedamongpeersandrelianceononeanotherforbothacademicandnon-academicissues,buttheseconnectionswithfacultyandpeersupporterswouldappeartobelessstrongthanwewouldlike.5MovingForwardThisis,ofcourse,onlythebeginningofaplannedongoingstudy,somuchwillonlybemadeclearerwiththecollectionofmoredataovertime.Theplanistotrackhowdifferentincomingclasses'situationsandexperiencesaresimilarordifferent,andhowanychangestointegrationalandsupportpoliciesandactivitiesmovingforwardchangetheseJournalofChubuUniversityEducationNo.25（2025）―40―