Reflections on 15 years of working in student partnerships: successes, challenges and the future possibilities

Based on the reflections of the authors’ experiences of working in the students as partners space for the past 15 years, this paper will weave together Julie and Luke’s reflections on their experiences of working in the students as partners space, with commentary from some of the students who have been involved and key ideas from the literature. The authors have worked in this area within institutions and across the sector and have separately been involved in a number of students as partners projects, from students co-creating, students as research partners, students as facilitators of other students’ learning; students as evaluators and students as leaders. Within this work, both have had different roles and responsibilities and worked in different institutions. Their involvement in this area has now converged at Abertay University, bringing together these experiences into an increased institutional emphasis on co-working with students within the university environment. Over those 15 years, this work has been stimulating and invigorating both for the staff and students involved, however, there have often been challenges, particularly when working against the ”usual” ways of institutional working, supporting the students involved as well as doubts and scepticism from some quarters. Finally, the evolution of this work in the future, both from an institutional and sector perspective, will be considered.