Student Voice in Quality Assurance: ATHEA & ESU Partnership - Copy
23 May 2026
A significant step forward for inclusive and transparent quality assurance in higher education has been formalized through a new Memorandum of Understanding between the Association for Transnational Higher Education Accreditation (ATHEA) and the European Students’ Union (ESU).
This partnership embeds student participation at the core of institutional evaluations conducted by ATHEA worldwide, reinforcing alignment with the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) and advancing a more holistic, stakeholder-driven approach to quality assurance.
Why this matters
Quality assurance is strongest when it reflects the perspectives of those directly experiencing education systems. By formalizing the involvement of trained student experts from ESU’s Quality Assurance Pool, this agreement ensures that evaluations benefit from:
- First-hand student insight
- Enhanced credibility and transparency
- Balanced, multi-stakeholder review panels
How the collaboration works
Under this agreement, ESU nominates student experts from its Quality Assurance Pool upon ATHEA’s request.
- ATHEA integrates students as full, equal panel members.
- Student experts contribute across the full evaluation cycle, so from document analysis to site visits and final reporting.
Importantly, students are not observers, they are active evaluators, shaping findings and recommendations.
Governance and continuous improvement
The partnership introduces structured annual feedback loops between ATHEA and ESU, ensuring ongoing alignment, refinement of procedures, and continuous improvement of student participation in evaluation processes. This creates a framework that is not static, but iterative and continuously improving
Broader context
ESU represents nearly 20 million students across Europe, advocating for their educational, social, and academic interests at the European level. Through its established Quality Assurance Student Experts Pool, ESU prepares and nominates trained students to participate in external evaluations. Its broad partner network. including European institutions and Bologna Process stakeholders, reflects a strong commitment to embedding the student voice across higher education governance.
Please find more information on European Students’ Union on website Home - European Students' Union
