Introduced in semester two last year, there are four new houses that align each new student to a distinctively Tasmanian animal and community in a way to create networks.

The "communities" or team houses, each have their own distinct animal, colour and merchandise and have been extended to cover staff and alumni.

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UTAS director of student extension and employability Kristin Warr said initial data had shown that the communities had increased staff and student engagement in social activities and had helped to create a rapport among new students at university.

"We wanted to create a kind of experience that we used to have at university, so that people felt connected to the university and to their peers," she said.

The communities are connected to an individual's birthday month and align with the seasons and have their own iconic Tasmanian animal mascot.

What the new communities are:

Tasmanian tigers/thylacines, Tasmanian devils, weedy sea-dragons and wedge-tailed eagles have all nabbed a spot as mascots for their houses and Ms Warr said both staff and students had embraced the model.

"If people feel part of a community, it's part of that grounding identity....now we are at the point where we really hope to form identities for each of the communities," she said.

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Each of the communities' defining attributes will likely emerge as more people align with their new house, and Ms Warr said in the future UTAS was looking to create "community-based" activities such as sporting competitions.

It is based on a collegiate-style model used in other tertiary institutions.

UTAS students Sheethal Mathew (Eagles), Humaira Akahter (Dragons), Belle Sitthichardenrat (Devils) and Phu Troung (Tigers) are in their second year and said the communities had helped them feel like they belonged.

Mr Truong said it had helped him make new friends, based off the colours they were wearing and the community they belonged to.

"It creates that immediate connection, even if it's not much, to go and talk to people," he said. "It's like that proper university experience."

The students said after the pandemic hit and they were relegated to online courses, they felt disconnected to the institution. However, since the introduction of the communities they had all felt they were engaged again with the social aspect of their education.

Ms Warr said that connection had even rippled across to the staff. She said events such as the Fire Pot Fridays, which was basically a debrief session at the end of the week, had seen a significant increase in the number of staff attending.

"And what we're finding is that it's more staff from places in the university who are not student-facing, like those in the IT department, who are coming along to the events."

Mr Truong said as a result of his community he'd been invited to play social sport rosters with other members of his house.

Humaira Akahter, who belongs to the dragons, said the first time she turned up to a community event and saw someone else wearing the same merchandise as her, she said she was immediately drawn to those people.

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"I was really proud, especially seeing other people in dragon hoodies, it was like, yes, I am in a good one, I'm a dragon like you," she said.

The communities have created some friendly rivalries as students and staff try to figure out what makes each house tick.

Ms Warr said the program was "very opt in" to help decrease anxiety people may have about being automatically sorted into a community.

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"Some people are funny, they don't like which community they are in because they don't like the colour or whatever, but what we'd really like to see is everyone opt-in so we can run things like community sports programs," she said.

"University is one of those experiences where you might only want to hang out with your friends, but you really are missing out if you don't experiment and try to meet new people while you are here."

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