Student involvement in university decision-making: Good reasons, a new lens (original) (raw)
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Student representation in university decision making: good reasons, a new lens?
Studies in Higher Education, 2012
This article outlines the main cases for and related objections against student representation in university governance found in the relevant literature, and proposes a way in which variations in student representation within institutions may be understood and justified. It contextualises the modern origins of student representation in the experience of university democratisation of the 1960s and early 1970s. By means of a review of scholarship, it outlines the various ‘good reasons’ for and against student representation in relation to the most prevalent justifications: i.e. the politically-realist, consumerist, communitarian and democratic and consequentialist cases for student representation. The article then outlines how these complementary and contradictory positions may serve as a complex set of criteria or ‘lens’ for analysing and justifying the representation of students in various domains of university decision making.
2011
This paper proposes a framework for understanding student involvement in different domains of university decision-making based on the various reasons brought for and against student involvement. It briefly outlines the historical origins of student participation in university governance with specific reference to student activism and the experience of university democratisation of the 1960s and early 1970s. By means of a review of scholarship, the paper then discusses various reasons for and against student involvement in university decision-making debated in academic literature: with respect to students ’ political power as an organised group and stakeholders in the university; with reference to students ’ role and position as users and consumers (as against notions of community membership); in relation to democratic principles and the purposes of higher education in society; and on the grounds of the potential positive consequences of involving students in university decision-maki...
Student participation in university governance: the opinions of professors and students
Studies in Higher Education, 2013
This article focuses on analysing student participation in university governance, with the specific aims of identifying the main obstacles to student participation and offering proposals of how to better facilitate student involvement in the functioning of the university. From student questionnaires, teaching staff interviews and student discussion groups we obtained information regarding the major obstacles to student participation. The methodology employed in this research allows us to compare and contrast the opinions and perceptions of students and teaching staff. Significant differences are identified that highlight the main ways for facilitating change in student participation in the university. The required changes should not only relate to improving the means by which students are informed about ways of participating, but also influence how universities structure participatory processes, the role of the teaching staff and, specifically, the role of coordinators of those managing bodies closest to the students.
2016
Building on international research into university's engagement of students in the United Kingdom, Belgium and New Zealand (reported in Varnham &ors, 2017b), Professor Varnham undertook research in Australian institutions via the 2015 and 2016 Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) project: Student engagement in university decision making and governance-towards a more systemically inclusive student voice. Surveys of Australian tertiary institutions and student leaders provided a basis for understanding local circumstances. The aim was to begin an understanding of what is happening in Australia with respect to student engagement in university decision making and governance. The survey for Australian institutions was based on a survey conducted by the University of Bath into student engagement. The response to the survey was strong (53%). The responses were received from institutions that generally indicated they were receptive to an active role for students in decision making and governance. This raises the possibility that just over half of our tertiary institutions are thinking along these lines although other reasons may of course have prevented other institutions from responding.
The Student Voice in University Decision-making
2015
The term ‘student voice’ incorporates a rich diversity of perspectives. The concept has become prevalent within higher education discourse in the last decade, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Europe, and to a more limited extent in Australia where is it usually considered in the context of quality assurance and curricula. The discussion inevitably considers how the student voice may be meaningfully incorporated. The increasing diversity of student bodies at Australian universities is well recognized and as this diversity increases the notion of ‘the typical student’ becomes problematic and divorced from reality. Many new types of students have entered the system including mature-aged, first in their family to receive a university education perhaps from a low-socioeconomic background, international, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, postgraduates, those undertaking distance study, and others. Each has a different set of needs. Higher education institutions are challeng...
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education, 2024
This open access handbook offers a unique and unprecedented global comparative account of student politics and representation in higher education. It provides a systematic and structured range of specially commissioned chapters reflecting on the history, contemporary practices and current debates on student political agency and collective action in higher education. The chapters analyse the organisational characteristics and political activities of student governments, and map opportunities for students to intervene in and influence higher education institutions and higher education policies. The handbook re-examines and further develops the existing theoretical concepts on student agency and student impact on higher education, and analytical lenses on systems of student representation and organisational models of student governments. It depicts empirical insights from 25 countries from all world regions, 4 transnational regional student federations and the Global Student Forum. The volume is unique in bringing together established scholars with a highly diverse group of current and former student leaders, specially trained and empowered to conduct research for this handbook. It offers a major contribution to the study of higher education, and politics and governance of higher education specifically. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
Student Participation: Issues for the Governance of Higher Education
Societies, 2023
The paper reports findings of a research project aimed at developing insight into student participation in the governance of higher education institutions. The project was carried out in two institutions in Portugal, analyzing numbers and forms of participation, identifying facilitators and constraints to participation, and analyzing the students’ perceptions of their own participation. The study was carried out in the context of the European purpose of creating a cohesive European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and in light of theoretical perspectives of the sociology of public action. The concept of participation put forward by the Council of Europe in 2003 was mobilized in the sense that true participation involves making a difference in decision-making. The research objectives required both quantitative and qualitative data collection; therefore, a mixed-methods approach was adopted, including document analysis, interviews, and a questionnaire. The cross-analysis of the data collected enabled the researchers to characterize the participation of students in formal governing bodies and in other institutional contexts, identify facilitators and constraints to participation resulting either from the legal framework, the institutional culture, or personal contexts, and simultaneously capture individual perceptions of participation on the part of the students. The results enabled the authors to make a set of recommendations for political action both at national and institutional levels.
Africa Education Review, 2017
the idea of students participating in decisions that affect them as individuals, organisations and/or communities is recent and urgent. the participation of students in decision making has gained global support, yet it does not seem to be regarded as a main vehicle for promoting democracy in educational institutions. this conceptual paper aims at demonstrating the difficulties perceived to hinder student participation in educational institutions. It further proposes strategies that may favour the increased and improved involvement of students in decision making processes. the reviewed literature on student participation informing this article highlights positive outcomes from engaging students as decision makers in education.
The public role of higher education and student participation in higher education governance
"Institutional governance is not a singular phenomenon and neither is student participation. It comprises various dimensions in terms of domains and extent; and, to be properly understood and assessed it necessarily needs to be contextualized in terms of the legislative, historical and cultural setting of higher education governance and student representation in general. Given its institutional embeddedness, it is also difficult to compare across countries. The diverse practices of student participation in higher education governance reflect the diversity of institutional governance arrangements and different approaches to governance reforms. While we cannot ignore the diversity of forms of student participation across Europe, there is, however, evidence of the emergence throughout Europe of a new concept of student participation contained within the new public management approach to higher education governance. This concept depicts student participation much more in an advisory than decision-making role and focuses the domain of participation on areas directly linked to quality assurance of educational services. The more an individual institution subscribes to the managerial model, the more likely it is that, though there will still be some measure of student participation, students will increasingly be perceived as consumers rather than partners. In a consumer role, students will be having lesser opportunities for democratic citizenship education as described above, and higher education institutions will be less able to perform that particular aspect of their public role. The challenges that the representative student organisations face across Europe allude to several plausible interrelated causes. One is that of rising vocationalist orientation of students that are increasingly concerned about their present and future financial sustainability in view of the global financial crisis and the (concomitant) reduced employment opportunities coupled with the rising personal burden of financing their education. The other is the growing distance between the political decisions taken by the political elites and those of their constituency. This trend is not only pertinent to national politics, but indeed also to student politics. The low turn-outs in student elections and the rise in student movements suggest a detachment of the student body from the representative student organisations, their politics and policies."