With support and funding from educational agencies such as ourselves and the Higher Education Academy (HEA), a range of institutions have engaged in innovative and pioneering work on student-staff partnerships. Different models are emerging and students and staff and employers are starting to realise the benefits of co-working on the development of a digital curriculum.
A summary of key benefits of student-staff partnerships emerging from the research for different stakeholders include the following.
Benefits for students
- Gaining knowledge and experience of leadership and influencing change
- Gaining experience of using research to shape change
- Recognition of achievements through accredited leadership and extra-curricular awards
- Increased confidence and skills (eg communication, team-working, management, research skills)
- Enhanced networking with the wider professional community
- Improved employability and job prospects
- Driving the development of the digital environment for students at their institution
“95% of students surveyed that had been involved in student partnership activities at Birmingham City University say they feel a greater sense of belonging and are more motivated to study. They report a stronger sense of community and affiliation with the university and say that they are working hard at their studies.”
Elgan Hughes, previously student engagement officer, Birmingham City University
Benefits for staff
- Closer working and learning engagement with students
- Learning from and with students including the development of their own digital capabilities – an important dimension to their continuous professional development (CPD)
- Raising of individual profiles in their institutions and in the sector
- Enhanced input into research and papers via student engagement
“Combining the digital bravery (R Sharpe and G Benfield) of the students with staff knowledge and expertise of a given domain can allow you to critically investigate digital practice in a subject.”
Jim Pettiward, blended learning facilitator, centre for the enhancement of learning and teaching (CELT), London Metropolitan University
Institutional benefits
- Opportunities for students to gain skills to support employability, and greater involvement in the learning and teaching experience
- Aids retention
- Develops enhanced working, learning, assessment and engagement between students and tutors
- Engages students with research-led change
- Students inspire academics in technology-led educational innovation
“A big change is how our subject committees which deal with curriculum review have changed. The balance between the number of students and staff is more equal. Meetings are jointly chaired by the head of school/programme lead and student representatives and are now more interactive and forward looking.
"The agenda is sent out via the VLE and a wiki to allow more opportunities for consultation and engagement. We have changed the conversation, reframing the conversation away from ‘what are the student issues’ to ‘where is the course going?’ and ‘how can we move forward?’”
Dan Derricott, student engagement manager, University of Lincoln
Benefits for employers and communities
- Employers can benefit from students experienced in leading research-led change
- Stimulates students to engage with employers and communities
- Students more likely to become leaders in their professions and communities
- High levels of volunteering by alumni
“Trusting in the students’ own strengths and abilities will foster long-term benefits: loyalty to the project, peer-to-peer promotion and more confident, competent graduates who are ready for the job market.”
Dr Eleanor Quince, lecturer and faculty director of employability, University of Southampton
Further quotes and references
“Partnership is a particularly useful lens when looking into change agency, as it focuses on the role of staff and students. As a relationship and a dialogic process, partnership presents opportunities to start new conversations and open up new spaces for learning, change and innovation.
"It offers transformative potential because it prompts us to question the assumptions we make about one another and the learning process, in a way we don’t often make explicit.”
Dr Abbi Flint, consultant in academic practice, Higher Education Academy from ‘the journal of educational innovation, partnership and change’, Vol.1, March 2015
“…productive engagement is an important means by which students develop feelings about their peers, professors and institutions that give them a sense of connectedness, affiliation, and belonging, while simultaneously offering rich opportunities for learning and development.”
Bensimon, E .M . (2009) Foreword . In: Harper, S .R . and Quaye, S .J . (eds.) ‘student engagement in higher education’. New York and London: Routledge, pp . xxi-xxvi