Student Engagement in National Quality Assurance

Government policies have played an important role in higher-education reforms related to quality assurance. External pressures and the changing directions of policy related to higher education have resulted internal reforms in universities. Change in universities can be slow; however, an external lever can influence universities to strengthen processes and outcomes to manage risks. Throughout the past 15 years, higher education has witnessed innovative ways in which students engage with external quality agencies. Such agencies have realised that the value of student input in the audit process is not only critical but morally right. As a result of strategies used by external quality agencies to engage students, universities have also adopted similar initiatives whereby cohorts of students are engaged in various aspects of quality assurance, such as panel sessions, as members of review panels, helping the university to access participants in the audit process, and as members of relevant committees.