Student Voice Summit recordings now available

The Student Voice Summit, held 11th and 12th Aug., was a terrific event with outstanding and informative keynotes, facilitated sessions and workshops. The two keynotes and First Nations student panel are now available on our YouTube channel for everyone to view, enjoy and learn from.

SaP Roundtable - EOI open

The University of the Sunshine Coast is hosting this year’s National Students as Partners Roundtable and they want to hear from you! The event is being held online between 22-23 November with a focus on Sustainability: Developing pathways to transformative change. Expressions of interest are currently open for students, academics, professional staff and beyond looking to share their partnership initiative. Learn more here >> www.usc.edu.au/saproundtable2022 and email studentsaspartners@usc.edu.au with any questions.

Student Summit program released!

The Student Voice Summit program is released today and it’s a cracker. Students will hear from thought-provoking speakers, have opportunities to learn and connect with one another, and can attend workshops to critique practices and develop new initiatives. Certificates of participation will be provided, and there will be prizes. Sorry, staff can’t attend this one!

Head to: https://studentvoiceaustralia.com/2022-student-voice-summit to check out the program and register now!

Symposium Keynote Speakers Announced

We are thrilled to announce our keynote speakers for this year’s Symposium. We are honoured to be joined by three international scholars. On Day 1, we welcome Dr Manja Klemenčič (Harvard University), who will speak about student agency, conceptually and with relevance for practice. Dr Klemenčič will bring her expertise on student agency and frames of socio-cultural and institutional expectations to engage in learning and teaching, as well as projects and governance, which will launch us well into the conference and into Day 2, where we will focus on institutional practice more broadly. On Day 2, we welcome Lovisa Håkansson and Dr Ulrike Schnaas (Uppsala University), who will introduce and examine Active Student Participation (ASP) as an institution-wide project and practice. Their session will be a mix between theory, practice, participation and discussion about the potential of ASP pedagogy to contribute to democratic sustainable futures at and beyond the university.

Register for the Symposium now: https://studentvoiceaustralia.com/2022-symposium

Article of interest

Adrian Cardinali (UNE) has raised some important questions about the barriers of student voice and representation in higher education from the last few decades of governmental changes and attitudes in ‘Student voices silenced: they need resources to speak out’, published in CMM this week. Read, think, discuss!

https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/student-voices-silenced-they-need-resources-to-speak-out/?utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website

We’re hiring!

Student Voice Australia are seeking a motivated student to provide administrative and communications support for our 2022 projects and events. Check out the role here: https://careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/509943/project-support-officer and get in touch if you have any questions! Applications close 14 June. Good luck!

New Student Voice Toolkit!

We are thrilled to launch the new VET Student Representation Toolkit, developed by Holmesglen Institute, which has been specifically designed for enhancing student voice and establishing student representation in the VET context. Check out the Toolkit via our Reports, Tools & Publications page.

Student Partnership Agreement at UTS

UTS has begun work on a Student Partnership Agreement! There are some brilliant SPAs across Australia, and we are thrilled to see UTS undertaking this venture. Read about it here: https://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/news/student-partnership-agreement-enhance-student-experience

New resource: evaluation tool

The ‘Questions for evaluating a student voice or partnership project’ tool has been designed to consciously reflect on your practice with student partnership and voice projects. Use the questions to examine an existing project or when developing a new initiative, and, on reflection, consider the authenticity and agency of student engagement and participation.

Access the questions via the Resources, Tools & Publications page or via the above link.

Article of interest

‘Student voice in higher education: the importance of distinguishing student representation and student partnership’, by Kelly Matthews and Mollie Dollinger, presents a much needed discussion about the differences between student representatives and student partners and the importance of recognising how they can work together. If you’re a staff member, student rep, student partner - or both! - you will find this article an insightful, interesting and possibly even provoking read.

Matthews, K.E., Dollinger, M. Student voice in higher education: the importance of distinguishing student representation and student partnership. High Educ (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00851-7