The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education
By (Author) Dr Manja Klemencic
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Bloomsbury Academic
19th February 2026
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Political activism / Political engagement
Paperback
648
Width 169mm, Height 244mm
This open access handbook offers a unique and unprecedented global comparative account of student politics and representation in higher education. It provides a systematic and structured range of specially commissioned chapters reflecting on the history, contemporary practices and current debates on student political agency and collective action in higher education. The chapters analyse the organisational characteristics and political activities of student governments, and map opportunities for students to intervene in and influence higher education institutions and higher education policies.
The handbook re-examines and further develops the existing theoretical concepts on student agency and student impact on higher education, and analytical lenses on systems of student representation and organisational models of student governments. It depicts empirical insights from 25 countries from all world regions, 4 transnational regional student federations and the Global Student Forum. The volume is unique in bringing together established scholars with a highly diverse group of current and former student leaders, specially trained and empowered to conduct research for this handbook. It offers a major contribution to the study of higher education, and politics and governance of higher education specifically.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.
Student politics and student representation have fallen out of fashion in higher education studies,
partly due to a strong focus of recent work on higher education leadership and management. The book thus fills a gap in an under-researched area of the study of higher education, of national politics and organizational governance in higher education. It has a truly global outreach and comparative perspective that will attract researchers, students, practitioners, and policy makers around the globe. It has been very competently compiled and has been written by leading scholars in the field and student leaders providing a unique perspective.
A much-needed compendium advancing an important area of scholarship on student representation
associations. Manja Klemencic draws together an impressive array of scholars from across the globe and challenges our understanding of changing student politics at a crucial moment in time for the global higher education sector.
Manja Klemencicis Associate Senior Lecturer on Sociology and General Education in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, USA and Visiting Professor of Higher Education at Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is Co-Editor of the book series Understanding Student Experiences in Higher Education (Bloomsbury), Co-Editor of Higher Education Dynamics and Joint Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Higher Education.