Reviewing student-led and student facing activities to decolonise higher education: outcomes of a student-staff partnership

Abstract

Decolonisation is a radical and transformative process that seeks to breakdown societal inequalities, challenge the status quo and question the dominance of western European thought.  Students have been at the forefront of such work, leading campaigns to ensure universities become representative of the students who inhabit them.  In parallel, HE providers are implementing curricular reviews, extra-curricular activities and supporting strategic developments to signal a commitment to decolonisation.  However, much of this work is in the early stages.  In many institutions, decolonisation is still finding a place alongside the competing discourses with which HE providers are required to engage.  To support the University of Plymouth to engage students with decolonisation a student-led internship was implemented in summer 2021.  Here we report the outcomes of this internship, which involved a review of activities both to engage students with decolonisation, as well as activities led by students to promote decolonisation.   We conclude by presenting the recommendations developed to engage student with decolonisation, and reflect on the use of an internship to foster student-staff partnership working.