ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that much of the work on student engagement has been aimed at quality enhancement through partnership working that greatly improves the students’ sense of belonging and in turn generates a sense of learning community. The United Kingdom higher education sector comprises some 164 institutions and 2.28 million students of whom 1.75 million are undergraduates and 0.53 million postgraduates. In the UK the QAA, an organisation independent of government and providers of higher education, carries responsibility for ‘Safeguarding standards and improving the quality of UK higher education’. ‘Higher education providers take deliberate steps to engage all students, individually and collectively, as partners in the assurance and enhancement of their educational experience.’ Quality assurance processes within the United Kingdom higher education sector have for many years involved student representation at institutional and programme level.
