Bloomsbury Handbook on Student Representation in Higher Education: A Global Comparative Perspective SUBMITTED

Thank you to the Global Student Forum for collaboration on the research project Student Impact on Higher Education Globally (SIHEG) which resulted in the Bloomsbury Handbook on Student Representation in Higher Education: A Global Comparative Perspective. 

- The first comprehensive, global comparative account of student representation in higher education (HE).

- Makes a major theoretical and empirical contribution to understanding of student representation in studies of contemporary student politics, politics and governance of higher education, student engagement, student agency and student impact on higher education

- A truly global coverage with empirical chapters from 25 countries from all world regions written by 76 authors, and 5 chapters on regional student associations and the Global Student Forum active in the transnational higher education policy arena

- Based on a unique democratising research involving highly diverse group of student leaders (57 out of 76) with substantial and procedural knowledge, experiences and networks in student politics; specifically trained to conduct research for this volume, and joined by leading scholars on student politics

From the Introduction

The Handbook of Student Representation in Higher Education is the first comprehensive, global comparative account of student representation in higher education (HE). It is first of its kind in its geographical coverage and first one to feature the regional representative student associations and the Global Student Forum. The Handbook is unique in bringing together established scholars with a highly diverse group of current and former student leaders, specially trained to conduct research for this Handbook. Student leaders’ voices bring authentic perspectives to the study of student representation. The Handbook is a result of the SIHEG - Student Impact in HE Globally research project which is the first large-scale global collaborative research on student agency and student impact in HE. Facilitated by the Global Student Forum, the SIHEG research project has not only generated original knowledge on contemporary student representation worldwide but has also built the capacity of student leaders and their associations and movements to conduct and publish research on student representation and student politics. The SIHEG project enabled research into student representation as a form of leadership practice for student leaders and for institutional development of student governments.

This is a major contribution to the study of HE, HE politics and HE governance with focus on student political agency and student impact on HE. The Handbook challenges the established scholarship in HE studies which focuses solely on the effects of HE students. It offers ample evidence supporting the thesis that students have capabilities to intervene in and influence HE structures and policies and are not merely affected by these. Student representation is the foremost form of students’ enacting political agency to influence every aspect of HE as a social institution.

Study of student representation has attracted surprisingly little attention even though student representation in HE has existed since the mediaeval universities and that in some form it exists in every HE institution in the world. Students have for centuries organised into representative student associations, “nations” in mediaeval universities and student governments, councils, boards, parliaments, etc. in contemporary HE. These representative student associations, or student governments as they are referred to in this Handbook, are a distinct form of political institutions which organise, aggregate, and intermediate the interests of higher education students, provide services for students, and organise student activities. Students elect their representatives to student governments to advocate for their interests and fight for their rights. Student representatives do so through formal representational structures, such as participating in governing bodies of HE institutions, or if “board politics” fails, they resort to activism. Student representation and student activism present two interlinked facets of student politics through which students enact their political agency, sustain their social and political lives, and build their social and political worlds during studentship in HE.

This Handbook focuses on student representation as the less explored facet of student politics compared to student activism. While student representation is a common feature of HE across the world, there exist significant variations in practices of student representation across HE systems and HE institutions. To capture these variations but also similarities in student representation, the Handbook includes a systematic and structured range of specially commissioned chapters reflecting on the history, contemporary practices, and current debates on student representation in 25 countries and in five transnational HE governance regimes.

   The section on student representation in the transnational HE governance features chapters on The All-Africa Students’ Union (AASU), The Commonwealth Students’ Association (CSU), The European Students’ Union (ESU), the regional student movement in Latin and South America: Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes - OCLAE and the Global Student Forum (GSF). The chapters on student representation in institutional and national HE governance and HE politics are divided into four global regions: (1) Africa, (2) Asia, the Gulf States and the Pacific, (3) the Caribbean, Latin America and North America, and (4) Europe and Russia. The chapters analyse the organisational characteristics and political activities of representative student associations and map opportunities for student representatives to influence HE institutions and HE policies. In other words, the chapters explore the two conditions of student representation: the formal channels of representation in HE governance, and the existence and organisational characteristics of student governments.

The empirical chapters are informed by the theoretical foundations presented in the theoretical chapter. The Handbook re-examines and further develops the existing theoretical concepts and analytical lenses in current research on systems and organisations of student representation. It offers an overview of the key concepts in the study of student representation, focusing on the two conditions of student representation: (i) student authority in HE governance as legitimate rights of students to participate in decision processes, and (ii) the organisational characteristics of student governments. The Handbook draws on and advances the theory of student impact on HE which challenges and corrects the existing one-directional perspectives of the effects of HE on students and seeks to explain the overarching mechanisms of students’ effects on HE through student political agency. It also advances the proposition of the dynamic nature of student representation in HE and that ‘new policies create a new politics’. In other words, new HE policies with new political objectives create new political opportunities, afford new political resources, and affect the balance of power between different political actors, including student governments. The chapter provides theoretical foundations to the empirical chapters in this Handbook while noting that many empirical chapters also offer theoretical propositions advancing or correcting those presented in the theoretical chapter.

The Handbook is a result of unprecedented research collaboration between established and emerging scholars of student representation in HE. 57 out of 76 contributors to this Handbook are emerging scholars all of whom are current or former student leaders and all of whom are authorities in student politics with substantial and procedural knowledge, experiences, and networks. The involvement of the emerging scholars was facilitated through the Global Student Forum. The Global Student Forum (GSF) is the global representative student association founded by transnational regional student associations with the purpose to foster student solidarity across the world, advocate for student interests and fight for student rights in the context of global HE governance regimes.

The idea for research collaboration emerged in discussions between Sebastian Berger, the Executive Director of the GSF and Manja Klemenčič, a scholar of student representation (and many years ago a student leader who was a Secretary General of the European Students' Union). The SIHEG - Student Impact on Higher Education Globally was to examine student political agency and map existing opportunities for students to influence higher education and their societies. The research questions guiding the research project were twofold: (1) How do students enact political agency in higher education and society at large? (2) How student organising, student representation and student politics compare across countries worldwide? The project sought to map the practices of student representation in HE governance globally. The objective was to advance the understanding of student political agency in higher education and the impact students have on higher education and their societies through student representation.

The Handbook on Student Representation in Higher Education. A Global Comparative Perspective

Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction - Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University)

Part I Key concepts in the study of student representation in higher education

Ch 1 Key concepts in the study of student representation in higher education - Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University)

Part II Empirical research on student representation in higher education

Transnational Representative Student Associations

Ch 2 All-Africa Students’ Union - Abdul Karim Ibrahim, Peter Kwasi Kodjie, Bismark Amefianu Kudoafor & Elorm Mawuli-Kwawu (All-Africa Students Union)

Ch 3 The Commonwealth Students’ Association: Journey of A Newly Established Multi-Regional Student Organization - Dr Musarrat Maisha Reza (University of Exeter, Commonwealth Students’ Association), Odayne Haughton (Commonwealth Students’ Association) & Eileen Goh (Commonwealth Secretariat)

Ch 4 The European Students’ Union: the adaptive nature of a European interest organization - Martina Darmanin, Jakub Grodecki, Martin Hammerbauer, Kristel Jakobson & Matteo Vespa (European Students’ Union)

Ch 5 The emergence of the Global Student Forum and prospects for increased student participation within the decision-making arenas of the international education sector - Sebastian Berger, Georgia Potton, Giuseppe Lipari & Carmen Romero (Global Student Forum)

Ch 6 A regional student movement in Latin and South America: Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes  - OCLAE (Latin American and Caribbean Continental Student Organization) - Bianca Borges dos Santos (OCLAE and Global Student Forum), Giuseppe Lipari & Carmen Romero (Global Student Forum)

Student Representation in Africa

Ch 7 Overview of student politics in Africa - Thierry M. Luescher (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa and the University of the Free State)

Ch 8 Students' Unionism and Higher Education Governance in Cameroon: The Politics, Challenges and Way forward – Dr Emmanuel Shu Ngwa (University of Bamenda, Cameroon) & Novel Lena Folabit (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Ch 9 Influence of political parties on National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) - Nuvi Emmanuel Junior (All-African Students Union), James Kodjie (All-African Students Union) and Samuel Sasu Adonteng (All-African Students Union)

Ch 10 Students’ Power and How it has Changed in Kenya - Mary Adhiambo Ojwang (University of Nairobi, Kenya)

Student Representation in Asia, the Gulf States and the Pacific

Ch 11 Contemporary Student Representation and Organization in Southeast Asia - Claryce Lum (Independent Researcher, Singapore)

Ch 12 Aotearoa New Zealand: Exploring Myths of Egalitarianism in Student Organizations - Ellen R. Dixon, Nkhaya Paulsen-More & Liam Davies (New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations – NZUSA & Te Mana Ākonga - TMĀ, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Ch 13 Student Representation in China’s Higher Education - Li Fan (Huazhong Agricultural University, China and Wageningen University, the Netherlands) & Huang Wei (Changsha University of Science and Technology (CUST), China)

Ch 14 “The Political Festival”: Electoral Party Identification in an Indian Campus - Jean-Thomas Martelli (Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi, India)

Ch 15 The Omani Model of Student Representation in Higher Education - Faisal Al Balushi (Cardiff University, UK)

Ch 16 History of Student Representation in Pakistan and Future Prospects for a New Kind of Student Union - Muhammad Arfan (Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan) and Muhammad Usman (North Dakota State University, USA)

Ch 17 Singapore: The Metamorphosis of Student Unions – Dr Musarrat Maisha Reza (University of Exeter, UK), Eileen Goh (Commonwealth Secretariat)

Ch 18 Finding a way forward amidst the contemporary challenges to Sri Lankan student politics - W.Sachinda Dulanjana (Independent Researcher, Sri Lanka)

Student Representation in the Caribbean, Latin America and North America

Ch 19 The construction of a political actor in a post-dictatorship and neoliberal context. Persistence, success and challenges of the Chilean student movement (1990-2020) - Professor Cristián Bellei (Universidad de Chile, Chile) & Cristóbal Villalobos (Chilean Catholic University, Chile)

Ch 20 The role of CONFECH in the fight for education in Chile - Carla Trigo Argomedo (Alberto Hurtado University), Javiera Aymara Molina Barboza (independent researcher), Nicolás Javier Carrancio Fuentes, Maria Josefa Guzmán, Giuseppe Lipari (Global Student Forum), Cresente Cristóbal Lizarbe Luna (Metropolitan Technological University), Josefa Javiera González Palma (Silva Henríquez Catholic University), Igor Gonçalves Pereira (Federal University of Fluminense)

Ch 21 Columbian student movement: a force for dialogue and struggle in Colombian politics - Amanda Harumy (University of São Paulo, Brasil)

Ch 22 The new governance at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, the restoration of student representation, and the challenges facing the neo-interventionism of the State in Higher Education - Moises David Cáceres (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras – UNAH, Honduras)

Ch 23 Student Representation in Higher Education in Jamaica: the case of Mona Guild Council at the University of the West Indies, Mona - Christina Williams (Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students, University of the West Indies)

Ch 24 College student activism in the US – Professor Jerusha Conner (Villanova University, USA), Rachel Stannard (North Carolina State University, USA) & Angela Upright (Ursinus College, USA)

Student Representation in Europe and in Russia

Ch 25 Student representation at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). The case of the Bureau des Etudiant.e.s Administrateur.trices - Hélène Mariaud (Université Libre de Bruxelles, French Community, Belgium)

Ch 26 Student representation in the Czech Republic after 1989: the unbearable lightness of student influence? - Martin Hammerbauer, Damir Solak, Diana Hodulíková and Lukáš Lang (Student Chamber of the Council of Higher Education Institution - SK RVŠ, Czech Republic)

Ch 27 Student politics in contemporary Estonia: predominance of representation over activism - Allan Aksiim, Kristel Jakobson, Karl Lembit Laane, Kristin Pintson & Helo Liis Soodla (Federation of Estonian Student Unions, Estonia)

Ch 28 Which model for student representation in France? - Quentin Genelot (Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France)

Ch 29 Strategies and actions of student organisations for the conquest of representativeness: the case of the French student elections - Quentin Genelot (Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France)

Ch 30 Inspired by student politics in Italy: a proposal for a new typology to classify student collective actors - Matteo Vespa (European Students’ Union), Mattia Sguazzini (University of Genova) & Ruben Pratissoli (University of Milan, Unione degli Universitari)

Ch 31 Student Politics in Italy: continuities and discontinuities across three eras - Matteo Vespa (European Students’ Union), Mattia Sguazzini (University of Genova, Italy) & Ruben Pratissoli (University of Milan, Unione degli Universitari, Italy)

Ch 32 Student Representation as a Driver of Europeanization in Post-Communist Romanian Higher Education - Ștefan Marius Deaconu (University of Bucharest, Romania), Tamara Ciobanu (National Alliance of Student Organisations in Romania, Romania), Horia-Șerban Onița  (European Students’ Union)

Ch 33 Legacy, Bureaucracy and Meritocracy of Leviathan: Student Representation in Post-Soviet Russia – Dmitry Efimov (HSE University, Russia)

Ch 34 Historical Evolution of the Legal and Political Framework for Student Representation in Spain - J. L. Parejo (University of Valladolid, Spain)

Ch 35 The student participation in the governance of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) – J. A. Fernández de los Ríos (Nebrija University, Spain) & E. C. Maestu Fonesca (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain).  

Ch 36 Student Representation in the United Kingdom: In the face of criticism and maintaining legitimacy - Mike Day (Independent Researcher, UK)

Conclusion - Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University)

Index