Session Information
23 SES 01 A, Europeanisation and Education Governance: Different levels
Paper Session
Contribution
Student representation and student participation in higher education governance within the European Higher Education Area is arguably among the most developed in the world. Students’ right to organise has been incorporated into almost all HE laws in Europe. Elected student representatives participate in governing bodies of most European higher education institutions. While the basic formal provisions guaranteeing students’ participation are in place, the actual terms and extent of student participation vary considerably across Europe (Persson 2004). Furthermore, the terms of participation continue to change with the on-going higher education governance reforms. The major trends that have defined European (and global) higher education since 1990s and that have so profoundly shaped governance reforms have also not left student representative organisations – their politics and culture – unaffected. The proposed article investigates the current models of student governance and participation in Europe as reflected in national unions of students members of the European Students’ Union. Furthermore it poses the question how these unions have been affected by globalisation trends, which these trends are, and what changes do they bring to representative student organisations.
The paper contributes to a much neglected research area of student governance and student participation in higher education. These organisations have over the years played a significant role within higher education polity and politics as well as in society at large. European student representation ESU has gained a prominent role within the Bologna Process. Furthermore, European Ministers have reinforced the call for student participation in higher education governance at all levels. In view of the rapidly changing higher education environment, a reflection on developments within representative student organisations as key actors in this environment becomes exigent.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Altbach, P.G. (2006) Student politics: Activism and culture, in J.F.J. Forest and P.G. Altbach (eds) International Handbook of Higher Education (Doordrecht: Springer), pp. 329–345. Klemenčič, M. 2007. European Students in the Bologna Process. In International Higher Education, Number 50, Winter 2007, p. 23-24. Klemenčič, M. 2011. Student representation in European higher education governance: principles and practice, roles and benefits. In Eva Egron-Polak, Jürgen Kohler, Sjur Bergan and Lewis Purser (2011) Handbook on Leadership and Governance in Higher Education. Leadership and Good governance of HEIs. Structures, actors and roles. Berlin: RAABE Academic Publishers, pp. 1-26. Luescher-Mamashela, T.M. 2010. University Democratisation and Managerialism: The Changing Legitimation of University Governance and the Place of Students. Tertiary Education and Managment. Vol. 16 No. 4: 259-283. Persson, A. (2004) Student participation in the governance of higher education in Europe: Results of a survey, in S. Bergan (ed.) The university as res publica: Higher education governance, student participation and the university as a site of citizenship (Strasbourg: Council of Europe), pp. 31-82.
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