The Institutional Strategy and Logic of Student Engagement in Higher Education Quality Assurance

Abstract

In the context of massification in higher education, the role of the student has inspired both theoretical contributions and institutional implications, which is also embodied in a wide range of possibilities outlined for boosting student engagement in university governance. The previous study concentrated on the macro-level introduction to student engagement policies, but the attention to organizational strategies and logic at the university level was oddly silent. The current study adopted a qualitative research methodology to analyze the student engagement in the quality assurance processes at a Scotland university. The research findings showed that student representation and feedback mechanisms were facilitated as the student engagement strategies at the case university, and the corresponding pathways were to promote the student engagement in internal quality improvement and external quality evaluation, as well as to track feedback on student learning experiences. Further analysis found that from a Neo-liberalism perspective, the case university may have been driven by a combination of the capital logic and the achievement logic to make the above rational reactions. The initiatives mentioned may provide insights into the contexts of centralized higher education systems.