ABSTRACT
In this summative chapter to the collection, an analysis of recent United Kingdom (UK) government, regulator and other agencies’ influences on ‘student engagement’ will be conducted in line with the expanding theory-influenced practice covered in earlier chapters. This chapter will inform and predict; it will notify readers of potential changes and suggest where ‘student engagement’ / ‘students as partners’ may fit with the ever-changing UK higher education environment, with its emphasis on learning, success and the student experience in a marketised sector increasingly focused on data and student outcomes. We, the authors, shall weigh up the positives and negatives of such changes in relation to the practice covered in this edited collection; we shall outline lessons for professionals working in the field so that their practice may be more relevant and contextualised. The chapter will also offer several scenarios that may develop, according to whether student engagement moves towards either a collective or an individual approach when the policy agenda is influenced by either the consumer or the partnership model.
