Equity and diversity in institutional approaches to student–staff partnership schemes in higher education

ABSTRACT

Student cohorts in higher education are rapidly diversifying. Approaches to student engagement in teaching and learning must evolve to meet the changing needs of these diverse groups of students equitably. Student–staff partnership is an approach to student engagement embracing the diverse experiences of both students and staff. Growing evidence shows significant positive outcomes for students and staff. Practice, however, is dominated by small scale initiatives, limiting opportunities for equitable engagement. In institutions where partnership has been scaled-up, little research has explored these institutional partnership schemes. Our research addresses this gap by exploring institutional approaches to partnership across 11 universities in the United Kingdom. Results provide important lessons for improving equity in access to partnership schemes and the need for broader conceptions of scaling up partnership.

KEYWORDS:

• Student–staff partnership
• student engagement
• students as partners
• equity
• diversity

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the participants of this research and to Kathryn Sutherland and Hazel Christie for their feedback. This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Endeavour Fellowship scheme and the Institute for Academic Development, University of Edinburgh.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.