Students as Partners in Quality Assurance: Learning from Europe

A primary emphasis of The QA Commons’ approach to re-imagining higher and postsecondary education quality assurance has been the engagement of students in quality assurance processes and practices. Our perspective is that as primary stakeholders, it is essential and valuable to have students and recent graduates involved in the work of assuring educational quality, inside the institution as well as externally. As we’ve noted previously, several perspectives inform our position, including the following:

• As direct beneficiaries of their education, and deep investors of time and money into it, students are key stakeholders in higher and postsecondary educational quality. Quality matters to them significantly. 
•  The demographics of students in higher and postsecondary education in the U.S. are significantly changing; likewise, students’ needs to ensure and achieve a high-quality education are changing as well. All students should have opportunities for voice and choice in understanding and assuring quality. 
• Students have deeply informed perspectives about their experiences of and learning in higher educational settings. Their experiences and their ideas for improvement can be valuable.  

To this end, we are happy to share this paper highlighting our research on European models and practices of engaging students, with lessons for the U.S. quality assurance systems to consider.

European Models of Student Involvement in Quality Assurance: Lessons for the United States

We welcome your thoughts and ideas about how we can make student partnership a reality.