‘You’re in the wrong seat’: exploring the manifestation of power in higher education governance through the lens of student governors

ABSTRACT

Students who serve on the governing body of UK and Irish higher education institutions often report challenges due to a perceived power dynamic. This study explored the perspectives of power among current and former student governors (n = 14). This research highlighted the importance of power and its role in determining the influence (or lack of) held by various governing body members. With limited experience of the corporate environment, students hold less power than other governors, particularly external members, and senior managers whose capital is better aligned to these spaces. Though student governors seek empowerment from other members, this research highlights an overreliance on personal relationships at the expense of building an institutional culture that values student governors and commits to supporting their engagement through training and mentoring. Several practical recommendations are proposed – highlighting how governing body chairs, other governors and university staff can support students to overcome established power dynamics.

KEYWORDS:

• Student engagement
• higher education governance
• academic administration
• HE policy
• legal and governance
• management

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the fourteen individuals who participated in this research and numerous others who supported me in the recruitment of research participants. I would also like to thank Tom Lowe who acted as supervisor for this research when it was completed in pursuit of a Masters in Student Engagement at the University of Winchester and to Maria Moxey, Maisha Islam, and all of those who contributed to teaching across my two years on the MA programme.

Data availability statement

Given that the data contains responses that could potentially lead to the identification of the respondents (even with all demographic information removed), the author has chosen not to make the interview transcripts available, but redacted versions can be made available upon request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kevin McStravock

Kevin McStravock is the Lead Policy Officer (Devolved Nations and Europe) for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). Kevin is a graduate of Ulster University and the University of Winchester where he recently completed a Masters degree in Student Engagement and carried out the research this journal article is based on. Kevin is the Communications Officer for the RAISE (Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement) Network and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.