Seminar Paper

TOPIC: A STUDY ON: “INVOLVEMENT OF THE

STUDENT LEADERS FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS”.

Submitted by
Mr Minaram Gogoi
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Education
Kherajkhat College
Ph: 9101623889
Email: minaramgogoi@gmail.com

ICSSR SPONSORED NATIONAL SEMINAR

Organised by Department of Sociology
Kherajkhat College
Deotola, Lakhimpur, Assam
 A Study on: “Involvement of the Student Leaders for Good
Governance of Educational Institutions”.
Mr Minaram Gogoi
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Education
Kherajkhat College
Ph: 9101623889
Email: minaramgogoi@gmail.com

Abstract
Educational institutions are the one of the best platform for leadership training. As a
leader or representative of the student community they can participate in various activities of the
institution. A student leader can participate in decision making process of the institutions. They
can also involve in various institutional activities like teaching-learning strategies, governance of
the institutional involvement, institutional curricular and co-curricular activities. The MHRD of
India now gives importance on the direct participation of the students in various institutional
administrative activities for institutional smooth conduction as well as increase the leadership
power of the student community. We notice that NAAC the National Accreditation and
Assessment Council also gives importance on the students’ participation in institutional
activities. It is now realize that education should not be teacher centred but it is an activities of
student oriented. But there are some obstacles in participation of decision making process by
students in institution to institution. Through involvement in the governance, the student leaders
gain self-concept and divergent thinking. The skills they acquire enable them to fit into the
bigger society. It is therefore important for the college administrators to give the student leaders
adequate opportunity to play their roles in the institutional governance.

In this study an attempt has been made to analyse the students participation in various
decision making processes of our colleges, their roles, what type of value they add to colleges for
good governance through their engagement and also find out obstacles face by the student
leaders. Data will be collected through use of questionnaire, interviews and document analysis.

Key words: Student Leadership, Good Governance, Institutional Decision Making

Process.
Introduction:
There is a pervasive, shared, global perception of governance as a topic far broader than
government, the governance approach is seen as a new process of governing, or a changed
condition of ordered rule; or the new method by which society is governed (Stoker, 1998, p.177).
There is an intimate relationship between Governance and Leadership. Leadership is about the
art of motivating, influencing and directing people so that they work together to achieve the
goals of a team or broader organisation. It’s important for students to experience leadership
opportunities during their student life to learn the art of building relationships within teams,
defining identities and achieving tasks effectively. It also provides an opportunity to learn to
identify and display effective communication and interpersonal skills. Educational institutions
are the one of the best platform for leadership training. As a leader or representative of the
student community they can participate in various activities of the institution. The best way to
make students prepared for corporate relations is student leadership. Student Union represents an
important untapped resource in College effort to confront the current crises. Student
representatives have also been noted to have the capacity to diffuse potential conflicts. This, they
can do through regular meetings with their members and administration, designing mechanism
for regular communication, thereby restraining their colleagues from unnecessary conflicts, We
believe all members of our community should be capable of exercising leadership in different
contexts. The more leadership is encouraged, the more it flourishes.

This study did not take the whole students; focus was only on the student leaders like
president, vice president, general secretary, asst. general secretary, cultural secretary, magazine
secretary, games secretary, common rooms secretary, representative of anti-raging committee,
purchase committee, IQAC committee, women cell, library committee, publishing committee
etc. The main aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of student leaders in the
governance of College as a shared leadership.

Objective of the study:

The proposed study has the following objectives-

 1) To study the student participation as a leader in decision making process of College.
2) To study the quality and competency level of the Student leaders at college level.
3) To examine the role of colleges of Assam in making student leaders.
4) To observe the problems face by the student leaders in colleges of Assam.

Research Question
To investigate the research problem and achieve the purpose of the study the main question was
formulated as follows:

How are student leaders involved in the governance of colleges of Assam and problems they can
faced?

Implication of the Study:

In present day context it is realise that participation of students in various leadership works are
more essential to smooth conduction of the institutional management. Ministry of Human
Resource Development also gives importance on active participation of students in various
decision making process of educational institutions. Leadership training also needed for students
for future representative of the society. In this purpose all educational institutions have make a
platform of leadership for the students. But it is also reveals that all the authority of educational
institutions not gives such importance on the leadership training of students. The study therefore
investigated the ways in which the student leaders are involved in the governance of colleges of
Assam, the role they play, the value of their involvement and problems they faced.

Methodology:

In this paper, data were collected from student leaders by using a questionnaire where questions
were put about the satisfaction, dis-satisfaction and engagement in decision making process and
problems faced by them.
Findings and Discussion:

In this study the main aim was to find how student are involved in the governance of the college.
The cases were student leaders, 50 students were interviewed and they were the members of the
various student bodies and college committee. Data was collected using questionnaire method
and face to face discussion. The analysis was based on the research questions.

It was of interest to find out how the students got to the positions they held in college.
Some of the student leader said that they were elected through a process of election of the
college. Some of the student answered that they were selected by the authority for their port-
folio.

The students were asked the extent to which the college academic administration
involved them where decisions on matters of the college were made; the response was that they
were members of different cells and committees where they participated in the deliberations. One
had this to say:
“I am a member of the IQAC which is one of the important bodies in the college, we get a
lot of experience by listening to how deliberations are made and I also give my suggestions

Even though the students indicated that they were involved in the decision making
process, there were times that they felt they were ignored; their response on this issue was; “in
very sensitive issues, decisions are made without consulting us” they gave the example of
students who had been found with attendance irregularities, decisions made were entirely
confidential. Such issues touch on the integrity of the institution the authority feels their say is
final without contribution from the student leaders.

Table No -1 Student leaders’ satisfaction level

No of students Satisfied Percentage Not satisfied Percentage

50 43 86% 07 14%

Analysis of data collected through the questionnaire

 Transmission of knowledge is an important function of the college, the students are the
recipients their input should also be given consideration. The student leaders were also asked
their involvement on making decisions about academic issues since this one of the main goals of
being in the college.

Majority of colleges always experience collisions between the students and the
administrators. The main causes of these collisions were the gap between demand and fulfilment
ratio.

Table 2 student leaders’ dissatisfaction level

No of In decision percentage In Percentage In their Percentage

students making monetary representation
process transection

50 15 30% 32 64% 17 34%

Analysis of data collected through the questionnaire

All organizations have chains of command at different levels and for smooth running of
the institution. It is through proper communication within an institution that members at every
level can contribute to the achievement of the institutional goals. When student leaders are
listened to and their proposals considered a lot of confrontation is minimized. The investigator
asked the students how information to and from the administrators reach them. The response
from one of them concurs with the feeling of all the rest:
“They consult on any issue touching on the students, that’s the biggest achievement for us in
our college”.

The student leaders were asked what they felt was their role in the governance of the
college. All the student leaders concurred that their major role was being a representative, a
person who would talk to the administration on behalf of the other students.

The student leaders also added that even though they represent the interests of the
students it was important to make the student body understand what the view of the
administrators are and at the same time make the administrators to know what the students want.
Through such a process decisions are made with the student input.
 One of the student leaders stated that their role was to represent students in the
disciplinary committee where they played the role of the advocate. The student leader indicated
that this was one of the driving forces that made him to vie for position in the student leadership.

To focus on the main aim of the study I posed the question of what they had learnt being
members of these committees. They confirmed that the experience has been quiet beneficial to
the way they present and handle issues affecting the students.

One of the student leaders also indicated that he was happy that out of 7 proposals he had
forwarded, 5 had been implemented from these. Leader feel fulfilled when their ideas are
respected and taken in.

The student leaders were also asked what they felt was the value of their involvement in
the governance. They said that by being members of the committees, they had gained confidence
and become quiet responsible. Through leadership they have been able to network with many
friends and organizations.

New innovations come about due to previous history; student participation in college
governance at times has brought about serious confrontations with the college administrators.
The students were asked about the changes that have occurred in colleges that have resulted in
reduced student uprisings. The students indicated a lot of change has occurred due to the
administrators opening up to the students and working together.

Student leaders’ participation in decision making:

From the data it was evident that all the student leaders had self-motivation to take up
leadership in the student association. Motivation is having self-drive to involve in an activity.
From the students responses they indicated it was their own choice to be leaders. However some
student leaders were supported by their friends and some others were by selecting the authority.
It was revealed that most of the students are satisfied in taking part in decision making process of
the college.

The role student leaders in college governance:

There is value in involving the students in the governance of a college. This can be to the
institution and to the individual student leader. It is important to have students in the governance
of the college because they are the link between administration and the student body. The role of
the college is to transmit knowledge to the student and a working relationship is developed
between the students and the administrator. The student leaders also felt that their involvement
made them to be more responsible and confident.

The study revealed that involving students in decision making helped them develop self-
concept and divergent thinking. The students’ actions in the college help them prepare for
commitments later in life in the larger society.

Conclusions and Implication of the Study:

The study focused on the involvement of student leaders in the governance of college.
The study was related with the questions that how are student leaders involved in the governance
of colleges of Assam and problems they can face?

Participation of student leaders in the governance of the college is very important. By

empowering the students, the positive image of the college is reflected. Students are to be
involved effectively in decision making process of the college. Sometimes it is shown that
administrator gives importance on the student leaders advises but some of others does not give
any attention in the same. In case of money matter some controversy is made between the
authority or administration and student leaders. Sometimes it is also seen that administrators give
portfolios to students only for obey the rule of higher authority but in the field of work they don’t
give any attention to the leaders of student. It is also true that some student leaders also a motive
of corruption which also increase the gap between the administration and leaders.

From my study it is clear that student leaders were happy to join as a representative of the
student community. It is also revealed that the main cause of controversy among the student
leaders and authority was monitory and decision taken against the students. For good
governance of an educational institution it is true that there should be a good relationship
between the authority and student leaders.
 References
Bergan, S. (2003). Student Participation in Higher Education Governance. Retrieved; 1st
June 2011 http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/Governance/SB_ student _participation
FR.pdf.

Lizzio, A. & Wilson, K. (2009). Student Participation in University Governance: The

Role Conception and sense of Efficacy of Student Representatives on departmental Committees.
Studies in Higher Education. Vol. 34. p. 69-84. Retrieved on 13th October 2011.

Love, R & Miller, M. (2003). Increasing Student Participation in Self governance: A

comparison of graduate and Undergraduates Perception. College Student Journal. Vol. 37. p.
532-544
Luescher-Mamashela, T. M. (2012). Student Representation in University Decision-
making: Good reasons, a new lens? Studies in Higher Education. Retrieved 28th May 2012 from
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cshe20

Lumby, J. (2003). Distributed Leadership in Colleges: Leading or Misleading?

Educational Management and Administration. Vol. 31. p. 283-293.

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 Annexure-I

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Student leaders there are some questions relating to your participation in
college governance and problems faced by you. So please give your accurate
answers to find out the same.

1. What is your portfolio in college:

2. How did you get your position?
3. Are you a member of a committee or board where academic and
administrative staffs are represented?
4. Are your views always considered in these committees?
5. Are there occasions when you felt your views were disregarded by the
committee of the College?
6. How would you describe the communication between the students and
College authority?

7. What are your roles in the decision making in the College?

8. In your opinion what are the benefits of involving students in decision
making in the College?
9. How best can students participate in decision making?
10. Have you face problems in decision making process?
11.Have you feel authority does not give proper attention on your opinions?
12.Do you feel that there is communication gap in decision making process
between administration and students?
13.Have you free from any pressure from your authority in decision making
process?
14.Are there friendly relations between administration and student leaders?
15.Are you satisfied with your position as a student leader?
16.Is there any other information you would like to add?

Thank you for the cooperation and assistance.

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