The Student Role in Quality: From Data Source to Partner and Back Again

Over the last decade significant work has been undertaken to involve students more fully in the assurance and enhancement of teaching and learning quality in higher education. The role of students has developed over time from evaluator to partner, foregrounding the role of the student voice in higher education at course, institution and national level in the UK, across Europe, the US and Australia. The engagement of students has the potential to enrich the learning experience for all students but can also raise questions and challenges for staff and students to fully live out the principles of engagement. This can include how students are supported to fulfil their critical role in quality, how inclusive mechanisms are for engaging the whole student body in assurance and enhancement and how institutions can better respond to the outcomes of student participation in quality. This chapter will provide an overview of the current research and experience of student engagement for the purposes of quality and make recommendations for the better embedding of students in quality processes in the future. It will address the role of student representation in quality at course, university and sector level; student engagement in course design, approval and cycle review, and students as teaching and learning consultants and pedagogic co-researchers.