A trilogy of chapters on student estate, student agency and student impact on higher education

November 15, 2022

in 2022, I have prepared three chapters which are now forthcoming in three new handbook in the field of higher eductaion studies:

1. Klemenčič, M. (forthcoming) The rise of the student estate. In Handbook on Higher Education Management and Governance. Edited by Alberto Amaral and António Magalhães (Edgar Elgar Publishing) Submission version

Abstract

Since the emergence of the first medieval universities, student involvement in governance and management of higher education institutions has been a prevalent feature across the world. Higher education students have always had distinct rights and roles as students in higher education. Commonly, students organize into student representative associations – such as student governments, councils, unions, parliaments, guilds. I refer to this set of students’ rights, roles and authority, and forms of organisation of student interests within higher education institutions and systems as student estate. Student estate implies a distinct social status and political identities of students as a distinct social category. In this chapter, I argue that the contemporary reforms of higher education governance and management have strengthened students’ political agency. The chapter develops the conceptual tools to research student estate, revisits the key historical developments in student estate from medieval universities until present times.

 

Key words: Student estate, student representation, student representative associations, students’ political agency, student voice

 

2. Klemenčič, M. (forthcoming) A Theory of Student Agency in Higher Education. In Research Handbook on Student Experiences in Higher Education, edited by Chi Baik and Ella Kahu Submission version

Abstract
This chapter proposes a theory of student agency in higher education as an overarching framework for structuring ideas about conditions of student experiences and student outcomes. Student agency is defined as students’ capabilities to navigate, influence, and take responsibility for their learning and education pathways and environments. The student agency model accounts for time, space, and place dynamics to explain the double “conversion”: the conversion of agentic orientations into a set of capabilities that comprise student agency, and conversion of student agency into student experiences and outcomes. The theory of student agency focuses on relationships between structures and students’ capabilities, such as intentionality, forethought and self-direction, self-regulation and reflexivity, self-awareness and self-authorship, self-efficacy and self-determination, and mental wellbeing. It addresses the questions: (1) What is student agency? (2) What are the student agency dynamics across, time, space, and place in higher education? (3) How does student agency affect student outcomes? 

Keywords: student agency, student capabilities, student experiences, student outcomes, higher education

3. Klemenčič, M. (forthcoming) Student agency and student impact through representative student associations. In Bloomsbury Handbook on Student Voice in Higher Education, edited by Jerusha Conner, Launa Gauthier, Carolina Guzmán Valenzuela, & Rille Raaper (Bloomsbury Publishers) Submission version

Abstract
Student representative associations, also referred to as student governments (or student councils, unions, guilds, parliaments and similar) are a common feature in higher education around the world. However, they vary significantly in their organizational capabilities and in their voice in higher education governance. The chapter introduces key concepts in the study of student representation focusing on the organizational characteristics of representative student associations and on modes of student representation in higher education governance. Building on the concept of student political agency, the chapter introduces the student impact theory which seeks to explain the overarching mechanisms of students’ effects on higher education. Using the student impact model as an analytical lens, the chapter analyses the potential effects of students on HE through student representation. Student representation, per definition, exists for students to co-shape social structures, social life, and institutional decisions of HE institutions.

Keywords: representative student associations (student governments, student councils, student unions, student parliaments, student boards, student guilds, students advisory committee), student representation, student agency, student impact, higher education governance