The battle for legitimacy of ‘student involvement’ in external quality assurance of higher education from Asian QA perspectives – does policy contextualization matter?

Abstract

Student involvement, through formal representation in external quality assurance (EQA) has attracted the attention of governments, higher education institutions (HEIs) and quality assurance agencies worldwide. This study aims to explore current developments and the legitimacy of student involvement in EQA agencies in the Asian context. There are several major findings. First, more than a half of responding accreditors in Asia have already engaged students in the EQA systems. Second, student roles in external review processes have not been fully recognized. Third, students as HE stakeholders are considered increasingly relevant as they contribute their valu able learning experiences to HEIs.