Evaluating student partnership models in Australian universities

A benchmarking study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v9i1.5909

Keywords:

Benchmarking, student as partners audit, best practices of student partnership, australian universities student partnerships, best practices of student as partners

Abstract

This research investigates the diversity and typology of Students as Partners (SaP) models across Australian universities, providing a framework for benchmarking institutional engagement with student partnerships. By reviewing public information and employing document and critical discourse analysis (CDA) on 38 university websites, the study highlights variations in SaP initiatives, ranging from comprehensive to not evident. The study adapts Barrie’s (2007) four-quadrant framework to categorise SaP practices as: no or limited engagement, fragmented, targeted, or emancipatory. The findings reveal significant differences in how universities govern, promote, and implement SaP, with only a notable few demonstrating authentic strategic partnerships. SaP is widely recognised as a critical and transformative strategy that acknowledges student agency in engaging with how universities are governed and how curricula can be designed. Therefore, this study aims to advance current SaP practices by providing a benchmark for the various configurations of SaP at Australian higher education institutions.

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Author Biographies

Seb Dianati, La Trobe Academy

Dr. Seb Dianati, a Senior Academic Lead at Charles Darwin University, heads the Digital Learning Futures team within Education Strategy at CDU. With a background at the University of Queensland since 2018, he's served as a Senior Teaching Fellow and Director of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Lab (CaLD Lab). His leadership has driven the widespread implementation of digital technologies through student partnerships, demonstrated by numerous institutional rollouts. Dr. Seb is lauded for his impact on digital and e-learning pedagogies, leveraging student partnerships to enhance course and curriculum design. He gained distinction for leading an expansive student partnership initiative involving over 60 student partners and 29 projects, culminating in a prestigious 2022 commendation. Dr. Dianati's collaborative approach, shaped by previous roles at Flinders University, emphasises blended, flexible, and active learning methods. His extensive publications, including research on contextualisation, critical-digital partnership, and diverse manifestations of partnership, underline his ability to conduct a variety of methodological approaches for structural equation modelling to critical participatory action research.

   

Theresa Ashford, University of Sunshine Coast

Dr Theresa Ashford is a Lecturer in Geography and Sustainability at UniSC whose passion is exploring human-nature relations through a geo-ethical lens. Her undergraduate and post graduate education is in Geography and spans science, human and cultural geography domains. She has worked in the regional planning field in Canada and her Masters research explored the use and role of public spaces in the support and construction of homeless punk youth identities in Winnipeg, Canada. Her work with homeless youth led her to change careers and move into Senior Education, where she taught Geography and History.

Dr Ashford’s PhD research (2018, Education, UQ) used Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to investigate the emergence of digital ethics in 1:1 classrooms and tracing the role of technology mediating, supporting and translating student behaviour and understandings. This interest in ANT translates into all her geography and sustainability research where she studies human-non-human relations and ethical performances across different applications including habitat protection and conservation (Koala); decarbonisation; and teaching climate change.

Dr Ashford is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and is keenly interested in ethical and socially just pedagogies, nurturing future-oriented thinking, and the shift required to teach in the Anthropocene.

References

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Published

2025-05-19

How to Cite

Dianati, S., Ashford, T., Pearson, G., & Williams, E. (2025). Evaluating student partnership models in Australian universities: A benchmarking study. International Journal for Students as Partners, 9(1), 74–88. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v9i1.5909

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Research Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Seb Dianati, Dr Theresa Ashford, Georgia Pearson, Elisa Williams

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