A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

41

March 2009

One of the current debates on the university is the role of students in decision-making processes and in the quality assurance mechanisms. In this respect, there are discordant voices in relation to the function which this collective is to carry out, what its responsibilities are to be, and what role is to be assigned to it.

First the Berlin communiqué (2003) and later that of Bergen (2005) expressed the “real” need to strengthen the participation of students in the sphere of university organisation and management with the aim to contribute to the improvement of quality. AQU Catalunya took an important step as early as 2005 by undertaking the first holding of the “Quality Management and Assessment” course, the purpose of which was to provide students with the necessary qualifications to participate in assessment committees. The course would be held afterwards on further occasions and there would be new courses linked to student participation in the design of curricula.

Initiatives such as these are positive to the extent in which they allow students to draw nearer to the university structure and to the management mechanisms which this structure entails, simplifying socialisation within the committees, commissions or boards in which they will participate as representatives of their collective. It should also be understood, however, that the participation of students cannot be generated only by adding some of them to a commission or a committee, but rather the universities must articulate mechanisms to assure as well the effective participation of the rest of the student collective. In this case, AQU seems to have resolved this aspect by incorporating, into the assessment processes which it carries out, spaces for the reflection of students on the topics covered in the assessment.

In our case, the participation in committees for the assessment of library services, university degree standards and the degrees linked to the Pilot Plan for Adaptation to the European Higher Education Area, and the commission for the design of the Pedagogy Degree has given us a transversal view of what is or can be the role of students in the assurance of university quality.

On the one hand, the participation in committees for the assessment of library services has allowed us to observe the real possibility of exerting an influence, from our position, on the menu of services which the university resources offer. Likewise in the case of the participation in the assessment of degree standards, we can affirm that the opinion of students is taken into consideration on assigning values to the various indicators.

Moreover, we believe that the circumstance of forming part, as students, of the committees assures that the opinions expressed by the students during the assessment processes will be taken into consideration, achieving in this way a “real” and “effective” participation of students. This is so because the opinions or possible problems expressed by the students have also been, at some time in our academic career, our own problems, and this capacity of empathy and connection which is established is of key importance to be able to design proposals which will have a real impact on university education or, in turn, on the services which are the object of assessment.

Although it is true that only one student forms part of the assessment committee, it is also true that any student is free to participate in the open sessions which are held to verify the information which is provided by the universities in the reports which are issued before forming the external assessment commission.

As students who have participated in assessment processes, however, we are acquainted with the mistrust which is generated in some student collectives by the student representativity in the assessment commissions, since it is true that the choice of the participation of students in the committees has been ruled by the condition of taking the course offered by AQU and not by “democratic” principles. We consider that it would be necessary to disseminate the knowledge of the task which we carry out as students within the committees, and to inform about and make known the real possibility which students have to make their voice and opinion heard through the open sessions which are held during the assessment processes. It is also true that, in the assessments in which we have participated, the attendance of students at the open sessions has been symbolic in some cases. The causal factors which explain the scant participation of students in the assessment processes which are carried out may be many and diverse, and their analysis would go beyond the scope of this paper. We do wish to make it clear, however, that there is a need to disseminate the knowledge of the possibilities which they have, which we have, to express ourselves, to state our opinions and, in the end, to contribute to the articulation of proposals for the improvement of university education through the channels of participation which are offered to us.

We are immersed in a context of important changes, a context in which we students have an important role, so we cannot miss out on the various opportunities which we have to make our voice heard. Indeed, the active participation of all the agents involved in these processes is of key importance for the implementation of these processes.

This is why we cannot conclude this paper without thanking AQU Catalunya for the possibility which it has offered us as students to participate in assessment processes, both internal and external, involving diverse university degree standards and services. We consider that the steps which have been taken to date are important, but we also believe that it is necessary to continue working in order keep student participation from becoming an activity linked to assessment alone. The universities must also develop proposals aimed to assure the real and effective participation of students in their daily management as a mechanism for assuring real policies of equity and for advancing day by day on the long road to quality assurance.