Students, if organised into representative student governments or movements, can be a highly influential agency shaping higher education policy. This article introduces the Special Issue on student power in a global perspective, which addresses the question of how students are organised in different world regions and what role they play in higher education policymaking within universities or at the national level. The article discusses conceptual considerations in the study of student governments and movements and reviews the contemporary trends in student organising globally.
Student activism remains a potent force worldwide. Recently, students were instrumental in the collapse of the regime in Ukraine, and were key forces in the Arab Spring movements. Students, however, are unable to ensure that their views will be reflected in the governments that emerge from unrest. Students also are active participants in campus events, and have often been instrumental in shaping higher education policy.
The second volume of the African Higher Education Dynamics Series brings together the research of an international network of higher education scholars with interest in higher education and student politics in Africa. Most authors are early career academics who teach and conduct research in universities across the continent, and who came together for a research project and related workshops and a symposium on student representation in African higher education governance. The book includes theoretical chapters on student organising, student activism and representation; chapters on historical and current developments in student politics in Anglophone and Francophone Africa; and in-depth case studies on student representation and activism in a cross-section of universities and countries. The book provides a unique resource for academics, university leaders and student affairs professionals as well as student leaders and policy-makers in Africa and elsewhere.
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