ABSTRACT
Few higher education institutions appear to have developed open and formal arrangements for student-oriented discussion of teacher innovation. The common forum for discussion of teaching is usually the course or departmental staff-student liaison committees which are driven by quality audit and assessment procedures. They have for the most part encompassed a duality of purpose, providing feedback within a staff assessment environment and thus separating staff from students, rather than promoting partnership. Such consultative committees and student feedback questionnaires are inherently reactive, allowing students to complain but discouraging praise and innovation. The student community suffers, of course, from its powerlessness and transitory status. Even the most democratically governed committees can effectively stifle student discussion and there is practically no effective forum for student consultation in the process of course development. Faculty committees ratify or at best modify course proposals with student comment deferred to as an afterthought. The long time-lag between innovation and practice means that students rarely see the application of their input. There are few opportunities for the student community to actually engage in discussion on a partnership basis with their tutors.
