Student Academic Representation in the UK: An Exploration of Recruitment, Training, and Impact

Winter, Jennie, Turner, Rebecca, Webb, Oliver, Dalle Valle, Luciana and Benwell, Claire (2024) Student Academic Representation in the UK: An Exploration of Recruitment, Training, and Impact. Higher Education Quarterly. ISSN 1468-2273 (In Press)

	Text Student Academic Representation in the UK An Exploration of Recruitment, Training, and Impact.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 20 May 2026. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (495kB) | Request a copy
Preview	Text Student academic representation in the UK Anexploration of recruitment, training, and impacts OA.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (616kB) | Preview

Abstract

Student academic representation is a staple feature in UK and international higher education. It provides a vital quality function whereby students, who are elected representatives of their programme, canvas the opinions of peers to inform quality assurance processes. In the UK, there is increasing regulatory pressure for universities and student unions to be dual owners of representation activity and much work has been done to enact this model. Nonetheless, little is known about the experiences of those serving as student representatives, despite this being a community of thousands of students across the UK, who hold an instrumental position in institutional quality assurance. We developed an instrument (SARA) to evaluate experiences of 773 active student representatives from 15 UK HE institutions. It explored key areas, including recruitment, training, working approaches and development outcomes. Data indicated low engagement in training in some key areas (e.g., representation of diverse groups, data gathering) and a narrow range of working approaches. These patterns may compromise the value of student representation both from the institutional perspective and that of individual representatives seeking to enhance their skills. Recommendations are suggested for enhancing future practice.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Student Academic Representation, Student Voice, Quality Assurance
Depositing User:	Ms Raisa Burton
Date Deposited:	19 Jun 2024 08:40
Last Modified:	19 Jun 2024 09:14
URI:	https://marjon.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17837

Actions (login required)

Edit Item