Student roles in quality assurance: what the preliminary survey reports

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Updated, 7 September 2026: We confirmed the identity of Jens Jungblut and Bjørn Stensaker’s 2026 journal article, but could not access its main text. The findings below come from their earlier SRHE 2025 conference paper; they have not been checked against the final journal version.

What the accessible paper reports

The conference paper describes a survey of the European Students’ Union pool of student quality assurance candidates: 35 of 90 members responded, and 60% had participated in at least four external panels.

Its preliminary analysis describes overlapping roles as representatives, partners and experts. Respondents tended to see themselves as equals and partners; almost half also considered themselves experts. These are students’ perceptions, including their accounts of how other panel members regarded them. They are not independent assessments of panel quality or influence.

This experienced, selected pool cannot represent all students or first-time reviewers. The short paper does not establish that training causes better participation or that student membership improves review outcomes.

Questions for local practice

Our suggestion is to specify what a student reviewer is being asked to contribute and how that differs from representing an entire cohort. Provide a clear evidence pack and opportunities to discuss uncertainty, then evaluate participants’ experience of the process.

Broader feedback may help a panel ask questions, but it should not be treated as automatically representative. Explain sampling and missing perspectives alongside themes. The governance checklist can support that discussion. These proposals are not findings that the study tested, nor an endorsement of a particular analysis service.

References

Jungblut, J. and Stensaker, B. (2025). Extended collegiality? The role of students in external quality assurance panels. SRHE conference paper, abstract 168.

Jungblut, J. and Stensaker, B. (2026). Extended collegiality? The role of students in external quality assurance panels in Europe. Quality in Higher Education. Journal article, published online 11 May 2026. Journal findings not independently checked in this review.