Meaningful Student Consultations: Empowering Engagement and Co-Creation
Student voices are fundamental in improving campus services. Currently, students consult on advisory groups like the UofT Governing Council, the Council of Student Services, and department-level councils. Yet room remains to seek more breadth and depth in student voices. We are evaluating current consultation models and working with students to understand what meaningful consultation might look like.
Fall/Winter 2020-2021
What does meaningful student consultation entail?
In the fourth instalment of Stories Through Research, our team discussed the many elements of meaningful student consultation and this might be realized in areas at UofT. Through interviews with staff and students, we were able to gain a deeper understanding of consultation from a variety of perspectives and experiences to ensure consultation is equitable to all involved.
KEY FINDINGS
A well-planned student consultation process empowers engagement and co-creation between students and decision-makers.
Students want to participate as active participants throughout the consultation process, providing feedback but also engaging in an ongoing conversation. A well-planned process provides the scaffolding to frame a conversation that incorporates students as informed and knowledgeable co-creators throughout the process.
Building the Conversation: Addressing the complexity of creating conversations that have the direction, flexibility and time to generate meaningful insights.
Creating and Showing Value: Emphasizing the importance of ensuring people feel heard and valued while empowering individuals by demonstrating how their contributions informed outcomes.
Bringing Voices Together: Focusing on how to hear from the diverse population that makes up the UofT community.