| Authors | LeBihan, J., Lowe, T., Storer-Smith, A., Osman, S., Bryant, K., Sims, S., Pickering, N., Varwell, S. and de-la-Haye, L. |
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| Description | Student engagement in the development of education through student voice activities, such as student representation at course level is assumed as a sector norm in the UK. Since the professionalisation of students’ unions in the 2000s and 2010s to develop student voice teams (Bols, 2020), all UK universities have followed the Quality Code’s Student Engagement Theme (2018) (formerly Chapter B5, 2013) to embed student-staff engagement in voice activities across their provision (Bols, 2017). However, the often-assumed practice of democratically-elected and volunteers student representatives, which used to be assumed cross-sector practice, has evolved at institutions, creating an unknown spread of varied practice across UK HEIs. Beyond course-level representation schemes, many universities and students’ unions are experimenting in student voice activities to create new ways of engaging students locally, in professional service areas, and strategically, across universities. To respond to the above developments, in 2025, the University of Westminster supported by the RAISE Network lead a sector audit of student engagement in student voice, student survey and student representation activities across UK Higher Education, to temperature-check and share contemporary practice post-COVID-19. Following the Lowe and Lowe (2020) audit of students engaged in quality assurance panels, fielding responses from 40 UK Universities, this project aspires to gain responses from at least 100 students’ unions and universities. The study aimed to gain a sector assessment of current questions relating to electing vs selecting, rewarding vs voluntary, and balance of organising student engagement in voice, surveys and representation activities across modern HE Institutions. Project funding was secured from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) as part of the 2025 Collaboration Enhancement Fund. The fund of £10,000 would support the research capacity to conduct the below phases of research, as well as disseminate the findings across the wider Higher Education sector. This project focuses on two main areas of activity: • Phase 1: An institutional survey-based audit which explored student engagement practice with course, school and faculty-level representatives, as well as gathering information on the use of course-level evaluations and university surveys. • Phase 2: A qualitative follow-up series of interviews to identify innovative practice in the space of university-wide consultation committees. Ethics for the project was confirmed by University of Westminster Business School Ethics Committee on 1st April 2025 (Reference: ETH2425-1095) |
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