Comparing students as partners (SaP) in higher education in Australia and Japan

Students as partners (SaP) is an approach which aims to include students and staff in partnership in a number of settings across higher education. This article is a comparative exploration of SaP in relation to universities in Australia and Japan, through the lens of Matthews’ (2017) five propositions for SaP. Published in 2017, the propositions articulate the transformative potential of genuine, agentic engagement between staff and students in partnership. SaP is well recognized as a teaching and learning strategy in Australian higher education, yet there are changing and evolving perspectives. While the concept of SaP is less widely known in Japan, actively involving and engaging students in their own learning is an approach that is acknowledged and encouraged. Through a collaborative examination of our respective contexts, we found that the value of SaP is retained across the two cultures, along with its potential to transform and enrich both higher education systems.