The research reported here follows previous articles in this special issue which detail a national study involving a team of researchers across four higher education institutions in New Zealand. A key theme that emerged from a collection of questionnaire, interview and observational data was the central importance of teacher–student and student–student relationships, as part of the learning communities. Both teachers and students highlighted the value of developing a personal dimension to their relationships that engendered a greater sense of access and loyalty to that community. Contextual factors such as approachability of teachers, class size and teaching environment appeared to be important to relationship building and enculturation in higher education science and engineering learning communities.