Student agency and the impact of students on college

The study of higher education impact on students has been one of the most prolific subfields in sociology of higher education and explores variety of ways that higher education influences student outcomes. Klemenčič's research seeks to corrects this one sided perspective arguing that student too have impact on their colleges and universities.  Klemenčič introduces theory of student agency as students’ capabilities to intervene in and influence their learning pathways and educational environments. She investigate student impact through student representation, student voluntary service and student campus employment, student activism as students having direct effects on higher educaion. In addition, she investigates indirect effects studnets have on higher education through consumer preferences and consumer behaviour. 

 

The study of student politics and student governments in higher education

Much of Klemenčič's research has been devoted to the study of student politics globally (see the special issue Student power in a global perspective and contemporary trends in student organising, 2014 and the chapter (with Bo Yun Park) Student Politics: Between Representation  and Activism, 2018), and specifically in African context, in collaboration with Thierry Luesher and James Jowi  (see the edited book  Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism, 2016 and the special issue Student Power in Africa, 2015). 

Klemenčič's most notable contribution in the area of student politics is on student representation in higher education governance and the characteristics of student governments as one facet of student politics. Klemenčič is first to have theorized student governments in the special issue Student Representation in Western Europe (2012), and further advanced the concept in her later publications. 

From 2021 - 2023, in partnership with Global Student Forum, Klemencic (as principal investigator) worked on a global comparative research project "Student Impact on Higher Education Globally (SIHEG)". The research findings are featured in the Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Representation in Higher Education: A Global Comparative Perspective (submitted to the Publisher in January 2023) which is the first comprehensive, global comparative account of student representation in higher education (HE). The Handbook:

- 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

 

Relevant publications

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Student governments. In Shin, J. C., Teixeira, P. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (Springer, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Student politics. In Shin, J. C., Teixeira, P. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (Springer, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Student activism and student organizations. In Miriam E. David and Marilyn J. Amey (eds.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education, 5v. (SAGE, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Higher Education Institution Governing Boards: Student Board Members. In Miriam E. David and Marilyn J. Amey (eds.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education, 5v. (SAGE, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2019) Higher education expansion and students. In Shin, J. C., Teixeira, P. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (Springer, 2019)

Klemenčič, M. and Bo Yun Park (2018) Student Politics: Between Representation and Activism. In Hamish Coates, Brendan Cantwell and Roger King (eds.) Handbook on the Politics of Higher Education, pp. 468 - 486 (Edward Edgar Publishing)

Klemenčič, M. and F. M. Galán Palomares (2017) Transnational student associations in the European multilevel governance of higher education policies. European Educational Research Journal 17(3) 2018: 365-384.

Philip G. Altbach and Manja Klemenčič (2017) Global: Student Activism Remains Potent Force Worldwide. In Georgiana Mihut, Philip G. Altbach and Hans de Wit (eds.) Global Higher Education: Insights from Key Global Publications (pp 227-230) Rotterdam, Netherlands: Springer

Luescher-Mamashela, T., Klemenčič, M., Otieno Jowie, J. (eds.) (2016) Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism, African Higher Education Dynamics Series, Vol. 2. Capetown, South Africa: African Minds Publisher 

Luescher-Mamashela, T., Klemenčič, M. (2016) Student power in twenty-first century Africa: The character and role of student organizing. In R. Brooks (ed.) Student politics and protest: International perspectives pp. 113-128 (Routledge)

Klemenčič, M., Luescher-Mamashela, T., Mugume, T. (2016) Student Organizing in African Higher Education: Polity, Politics and Policies. In Student Politics in Africa: Representation and Activism, edited by Luescher-Mamashela, T., Klemenčič, M., Otieno Jowie, J. (African Minds Publisher)

Luescher-Mamashela, T.,Klemenčič, M., Otieno Jowie, J. (eds.) (2015) Student Power in Africa, Journal of Student Affairs in Africa 3 (1) 2015

Klemenčič, M. (2014) Student power in a global perspective and contemporary trends in student organizing. Studies in Higher Education 39(3): 396-411

Klemenčič, M. (2012) Student Representation in Western Europe: introduction to the special issue. European Journal of Higher Education 2(1): 2-19

Klemenčič, M. (2012) The changing conceptions of student participation in HE governance in the EHEA. In Adrian Curaj, Sir Peter Scott, Lazăr Vlasceanu, Lesley Wilson (eds.) European Higher Education at the crossroads – Between the Bologna Process and national reforms (pp. 631-653). Heidelberg: Springer

Klemenčič, M. (2011) The public role of higher education and student participation in higher education governance. In: Brennan, J., Shah, T. (eds.). Higher education and society in changing times: looking back and looking forward (pp. 74-83). London: Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, CHERI

Klemenčič, M. (2011) Student representation in European higher education governance: principles and practice, roles and benefits. In Eva Egron-Polak, Jürgen Kohler, Sjur Bergan and Lewis Purser (eds.) Leadership and Governance in Higher Education. Handbook for Decision-makers and Administrators (pp. 1-26). Berlin: RAABE Academic Publishers

Klemenčič, M. (2007) Students in the Bologna Process. International Higher Education, Number 50, Winter 2007

Student voice in universiy quality

Klemenčič applies her theory of student agency to investigating student voice in university quality (see The student voice in quality assessment and improvement, 2018 and Student involvement in quality enhancement , 2015) and to study of student agency and actorhood in student centered learning and teaching (see Students as Actors and Agents in Student-Centred Higher Education, 2020). Klemenčič's proposition of student impact on higher education, covers five distinct yet interrelated domains of students excercising their agency: through representation (ie.,student representative associations, such as student governments, unions, councils), through activism, through voluntary service on campus (such as leadership of student groups), through student campus employment  (see Student campus employees, 2020) and through consumer signalling and behaviour. Klemenčič introduces the categories of student experts and student administrators,  that is, students who daily cross the boundary of merely being students and recipients of university services to participate in university decisions, programming and operations (see Student activism and student organizations, 2020). 

Relevant publications

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Students as Actors and Agents in Student-Centered Higher Education.  In Sabine Hoidn and Manja Klemenčič (eds.) Routledge International Handbook on Student-Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (Routledge) 

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Student employees in higher education. In Shin, J. C., Teixeira, P. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (Springer, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2020) Student activism and student organizations. In Miriam E. David and Marilyn J. Amey (eds.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education, 5v. (SAGE, 2020)

Klemenčič, M. (2018) The student voice in quality assessment and improvement. In Ellen Hazelkorn, Hamish Coates and Alex McCormick (eds.) Research Handbook on Quality, Performance and Accountability in Higher Education, pp. 332-343 (Edward Elgar Publishing)

Klemenčič, M. (2018) PASET student engagement survey methodology. Prepared for The World Bank, Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET).

Klemenčič, M. (2017) From student engagement to student agency: conceptual considerations of European policies on student-centered learning in higher education. Higher Education Policy 30 (1): 69–85

Klemenčič, M., Martin Žnidaršič, Anže Vavpetič, and Matej Martinc (Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute) (2017) Erasmus students’ involvement in quality enhancement of Erasmus+ mobility through digital ethnography and ErasmusShouts. Studies in Higher Education 42(5): 925-932

Klemenčič, M. (2015) Student involvement in quality enhancement. In Jeroen Huisman, Harry de Boer, David Dill and Manuel Souto-Otero (eds.) The Handbook of Higher Education Policy and Governance, pp. 526-543 (Palgrave Macmillan)

Klemenčič, M., Chirikov, I. (2015) On the use of student surveys. In Remus Pricopie, Peter Scott, Jamil Salmi and Adrian Curaj (eds.) Future of Higher Education. Volume I and II. Dordrecht: Springer