The Theory and Practice of Student Participation in Higher Education Governance

This session will first address student organising and the organisational characteristics of representative student associations. We will focus in particular on the organizational characteristics of representative student associations in terms of organisational resources and capabilities, the logic of membership and logic of influence that shape the design of organisational structures, and autonomy and legitimacy of these associations. 

Next, we will look into the different mechanisms of student representation ranging from contentious politics to informal cooperative involvement to formalized and institutionalised participation of student representatives in higher education governance. We will address the differences in both organisational and representational models across different levels of governance (from departments to national to transnational level) as well as across different types of institutions and different higher education (and broader political) contexts.

Apart from discussing the impact that students have on higher education policies and decisions, we will also consider some of the pitfalls in student representation, such as tokenistic involvement, domestication of student representatives and lack of autonomy/legitimacy.