Student agency in changing UK higher education
- Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, National Union of Students (NUS)
- Lauren Bolz, University of Oxford
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Students’ roles in influencing change within UK universities has long been debated. Nonetheless, students have been—and continue to be—drivers of small and large-scale change and cultural shifts within them. Through protests, campaigns, and everyday conversations, students can create and influence change within university classrooms, institutional governance structures, and national political spheres. From movements surrounding decolonising curricula to widening higher education participation, students often use their agency to shape their educational and political environments.
Like in many other spaces, the pandemic has both changed and highlighted opportunities for and limitations of this student agency in UK universities. This talk will explore how the pandemic has changed the dynamics that shape student agency at both institutional and national levels, and the related barriers to students’ roles in changing higher education within the current UK landscape. Reflecting on their own involvement in student politics, the speakers will also discuss what they learned from the pandemic and beyond regarding the value of centring students in higher education decision-making structures, and the factors that they have found to most influence students’ abilities to create change in institutional and national higher education spaces.
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Hillary is Vice President for Higher Education of the National Union of Students (NUS). She was previously the Undergraduate Education Officer and Chair of the Widening Participation Network at the University of Bristol Students’ Union. A champion of students, Hillary has worked on many projects that have looked to support the most marginalised students in education and beyond.
Lauren is an Educational Development Project Officer at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, where she focuses on supporting the development of inclusive teaching resources and student-staff partnership work. Prior to this, Lauren was the Vice President of Postgraduate Students for Oxford Students’ Union, and earned her MSc in Higher Education from the University of Oxford.