Research On Student Participation In Shaping The European Higher Education Area

Recently student participation in higher education governance is a significant global higher education developmental trend. In the shaping of EHEA (European Higher Education Area) student participation has got a lot of attention and made great progress both in theory and practice. This paper focuses on the development of student participation hoping to put up some suggestions to higher education governance reform and building harmonious universities in China.Apart from the preface, the main body consists of four chapters.The first chapter reviews the development and two important theories of student participation in European higher education.The second chapter inspects the development of student participation on three levels which are European level, national level and institutional level.The third chapter discusses the extent of student participation in three higher education areas: quality framework, quality assurance and student mobility.The fourth chapter sums up the progress and problems existing in student participation. Based on those at the end of the paper it sums up some experiences and proposes some suggestions to promote student participation in higher education of China.Major viewpoints and conclusions of this thesis: First, the factors of student participation include democratization and internationalization of higher education, higher education governance system, moreover, students' willing and action are the significant internal ones. Second, the development of student participation promotes implementation of EHEA, as well as reform of governance of higher education institutions. Third, student participation has positive influences on higher education, as well as social dimension, presenting the democracy of European society. Fourth, student participation in different action lines and programs of EHEA varies greatly in approaches and levels; especially in higher education quality assurance student participation has made great progress. Fifth, the management model in higher education is resistant to student participation; higher education governance should be introduced and advocated.