Led by Dr Gustavo Espinoza-Ramos tavoer8.bsky.social and Dr Scott Turner @scottturnercccu.bsky.social

Higher education institutions have undergone significant transformations due to external pressures, including macroeconomic factors, inclusivity and equity, technology developments, and regulation.

These external pressures have caused HE institutions to rethink their organisational structures, policies, research, and teaching and learning practices to meet stakeholders’ needs.  

One of the growing creative initiatives is through the collaboration between students and staff members, which is crucial for creating dynamic and responsive educational environments and enhancing the student learning experience.

Students-as-co-creators

The literature has examined collaboration between students and university staff under various terms, including student-faculty pedagogical partnerships (Marquis et al., 2022), students as partners (SaP) (Healey, 2024), and student-staff partnerships (Smith et al., 2024). In these partnerships, students engage in various collaborative projects with university faculty and staff that include curriculum design, pedagogical development, and research (Omland et al., 2025; Katz, 2021). Due to the scope of these collaborations, student co-created projects have become increasingly acknowledged for promoting genuine learning experiences that help students acquire skills necessary to navigate real-world challenges.

Advantages of student co-created projects

Research on ‘students as co-creators’ initiatives highlights various advantages for students, such as increased ownership and responsibility towards their education; improved communication and leadership abilities (Wei et al., 2024); heightened engagement; enhanced critical thinking; creativity; collaboration; and problem-solving skills (Smith, 2023; Gkogkidis and Dacre, 2020; Van et al., 2024).

Through engaging in these projects, students develop essential capabilities and experiences and create outputs that enhance their employability, preparing them for successful careers. Outputs may include educational videos and podcasts, blogs, articles, solutions to real-world business problems, presentations, proposals for changes in module design and educational policy, and academic articles. The format of outputs should be agreed between partnership members according to factors including their availability and resources.

Challenges of co-creation

Despite benefits, the literature highlights several challenges impacting the effectiveness of student-staff partnerships. One significant issue may be the tension arising from the dual roles of educator and learner, leading to differing expectations regarding contributions to the project (Smith et al., 2024). Additionally, traditional hierarchies can create barriers to effective collaboration (Nahar and Cross, 2020), while time and resource constraints may limit the successful implementation of co-creation initiatives (Lubicz-Nawrocka, 2017). These challenges can negatively affect partnership members, resulting in students feeling exclusion, a lack of recognition for their knowledge, marginalisation of their voices, and emotional burnout.

Gap in the research

Despite the research on the advantages and challenges of student co-created projects, there is a need for further studies on how these collaborations function in diverse educational settings and to identify the specific factors that foster successful co-creation (Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2017). The literature often highlights a limited range of partnership models, such as curriculum co-creation or student consultancy.  In addition, more research is required to explore how these partnerships can be designed to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups (Marquis et al., 2022). Moreover, longitudinal research is necessary to understand how student-staff partnerships evolve over time and how their benefits can be sustained (Smith et al., 2024).

Conclusion

Effective projects involving students as-co-creators require commitment, innovation, and a willingness to embrace change. By fostering an environment where students and staff work together as equals, higher education institutions can pave the way for a more engaging, equitable, and dynamic academic landscape, shaped by external and internal factors of project participants. HE institutions should continue exploring these initiatives where collaboration and inclusivity are at the heart of education.

References

• Gkogkidis, V., & Dacre, N. (2020). Co-creating educational project management board games to enhance student engagement. In European Conference on Games Based Learning (pp. 210-219). Brighton, UK: Academic Conferences International Limited.
• Healey, R. L. (2024). Bringing a Social Justice Lens to Matthews’ Five Propositions for Genuine Students-as-Partners Practice: A Narrative Review. Social Sciences, 13(11), 577.
• Katz, S. (2021). ‘Co-creating with students: practical considerations and approaches’, Times Higher education, 22 October. Available at https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/cocreating-students-practical-considerations-and-approaches (Accessed: 17 March 2025)
• Lubicz-Nawrocka, T. (2017). Co-creation of the curriculum: Challenging the status quo to embed partnership. Journal of Educational Innovation Partnership and Change, 3(2).
• Marquis, E., Carrasco-Acosta, E., de Bie, A., Prasad, S. K., Wadhwani, S., & Woolmer, C. (2022). Toward redressing inequities through partnership: A critical assessment of an equity-focused partnership initiative. International Journal for Students as Partners, 6(1), 10-29.
• Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., … & Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners. Chicago
• Nahar, N., and Cross, D. (2020). Students as partners in e-contents creation: A case study exploring student-staff partnership for learning and student engagement using digital applications for co-creation of e-learning materials. International Journal for Students as Partners, 4(1), 109-119.
• Omland, M., Hontvedt, M., Siddiq, F., Amundrud, A., Hermansen, H., Mathisen, M. A., … & Reiersen, F. (2025). Co-creation in higher education: a conceptual systematic review. Higher Education, 1-31.
• Smith, A. (2023). ‘Exploring the Benefits of Working with Students as Curriculum Co-Creators’, Acadecraft, 14 October. Available at https://www.acadecraft.com/blog/benefits-of-students-as-curriculum-co-creators/ (Accessed: 17 March 2025)
• Smith, S., Axson, D., Austwick, H., & Brady, M. (2024). Looking back to move forward: Evaluating an institutional staff-student partnership programme. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(6), 1355-1367.
• Van, K., Tasawar, S., Brendel, E. B., Law, C., Mahajan, A., Brownell‐Riddell, C., Diamond, N., Ritchie, K. and Monk, J. M (2024). Using a ‘Students as Partners’ model to develop an authentic assessment promoting employability skills in undergraduate life science education. FEBS Open Bio.
• Wei, Z., Ziyu, A., Yuhao, M., Kehan, L., Qingqing, Z., & Kaur, A. (2024). Transforming Teaching Assistant Roles into Co-Creators of Instruction. International Journal for Students as Partners, 8(2), 107-116. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1446885

Author biographies

Dr. Gustavo Espinoza-Ramos

Dr. Gustavo Espinoza-Ramos is a senior lecturer at the Westminster Business School teaching at undergraduate and master levels, and he has also supervised master students’ dissertations. He is the co-module leader of Sustainable City Economies and module leader of the Strategic Perspectives for Marketing module. His research interests are pedagogy, business sustainability, and social partnerships. Gustavo has been leading projects that disseminate good teaching practices and enhance pedagogical knowledge when working with students on co-creator projects. He has experience in giving presentations and writing book chapters and blogs about teaching and learning in higher education. He is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). You can see his blogs and video presentations at the following link: https://linktr.ee/gustavoespinozaramos. You can connect with Gustavo on Bluesky @tavoer8.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/tavoer8.bsky.social), by email g.espinozaramos@westminster.ac.uk or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavoespinozaramos/)

Dr Scott Turner

Dr Scott Turner is Section Director for Computing and temporary Associate Head of School for Engineering, Design and Technology at Canterbury Christ Church University. He teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level on programming, computational thinking/problem-based learning and artificial intelligence. His research interests are pedagogy and Applied Computing especially in relation to Artificial Intelligence. He is Director for Data for the National Teaching Repository https://ntrepository.com . He is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. You can contact him at Bluesky @scottturnercccu.bsky.social, email scott.turner@canterbury.ac.uk and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-scott-turner-59758514/