Students as Partners? Exploring Student Union Engagement in the Creation of Technological Universities in Ireland

This paper interrogates the concept of Student Union engagement in Irish higher education through an examination of the policy and practice related to the creation of Technological Universities (TU). The case study is situated within the emerging policy landscape for both the technological higher education sector and student engagement, and begins with an examination of the nature and scope of the policy landscape. The paper then considers the practice of student engagement in the creation of the first TU in Ireland, Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin). The aim of this paper is to explore student participation in institutional level decision making in the context of the creation of Ireland’s inaugural Technological University. In this exploration, we draw mainly from the ‘Ladder of Citizen Participation’ model as proposed by Sherry Arnstein (1969) to draw insights into the Irish experience of student engagement in the creation of TU Dublin. The case study provides an understanding of the nature and quality of student engagement and student partnership, raising important questions for policy development in Irish higher education.