From Customers to Partners: Reflections on this 'In Conversation' webinar

Strive Higher thanks Jo Coward, and Simon Varwell, for such an energising and thought-provoking session on The Future of the Student–University Relationship. It was a real privilege for Emma and Ben to co-host this with Jo and Simon and to share ideas alongside such reflective and values-driven colleagues.

This webinar took place on 13 November 2025 and followed on from the publication of a related insight which you can read here.

Watch the webinar:

Reflection on the webinar written by Emma Bayne, Principal Consultant, and Ben Rogers, Associate Principal Consultant:

The conversation reaffirmed something many of us feel instinctively: the old language of 'students as customers' simply doesn’t capture the depth, complexity, or potential of the student–university relationship. Yes, the consumer-rights framing sharpened standards and transparency, but as Jo noted, it has always felt a bit clunky, and it doesn’t speak to the personal transformation at the heart of higher education. Learning isn’t a transaction; it’s a developmental, human partnership.

Simon’s analogy landed beautifully across the session:

'University isn’t like going to a restaurant; it’s like getting a gym membership.

Paying the fee doesn’t guarantee the outcome, participation, commitment, and honesty is essential. Learning is not something done to students, but with them. That message echoes strongly across the sector and sits at the heart of the shift many of us are advocating for: moving away from passive models of engagement and toward genuine partnership rooted in shared power and shared purpose.

But the discussion went deeper still. Partnership isn’t only about engaging students, it’s about confronting power dynamics and reshaping culture. Who is heard? Who shapes decisions? Where does influence sit? Jo summed it up perfectly:

'If you get all the right voices in the room, you make better decisions.'

We raised a vital challenge: with student conversations and communities increasingly happening on platforms outside institutional control, how do universities meaningfully listen? Jo’s response was powerful: perhaps the issue isn’t what’s happening outside, but the lack of spaces inside where students feel heard. That’s where the work lies.

Throughout the session, we were struck by how aligned the discussion was with a growing movement across the UK: building a future where students are not merely consulted but empowered as co-creators. This isn’t a governance checkbox. It’s a strategic imperative.

And it’s a false economy not to invest in partnership. As Simon noted, today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce, the people who will inherit and confront society’s most complex challenges. Why wouldn’t we involve them now in fixing the challenges within our own institutions?

Ultimately, the real question isn’t whether students are customers. It’s whether we, as a sector, are ready to share power, to reimagine roles, reshape systems, and build cultures where students and staff design the future together.

If we get this right, the phrase 'students as customers' will feel like a relic. Instead, by 2030 we’ll be talking about co-ownership, shared leadership, and universities that are agile, inclusive, and built on genuine partnership.

Strive Higher thanks everyone who attended the webinar and made it such an uplifting, honest, and future-focused conversation. These are exactly the discussions the sector needs, and we are grateful to facilitate and contribute to them.

Strive Higher is uniquely positioned to help universities move from rhetoric to reality by:

• Facilitating structured partnership frameworks that help universities and Students’ Unions co-design policy, practice, and strategy together.

• Developing leaders, staff and students, side by side, equipping both groups with the mindsets and skills needed for authentic partnership working.

• Creating safe, well-designed spaces for dialogue, where power can be genuinely shared and decisions shaped collaboratively.

• Building mechanisms for insight, helping institutions capture, understand, and act on student voice across both formal and informal channels.

• Supporting culture change, ensuring partnership becomes part of how the institution thinks, listens, and leads, not just a set of processes.

If you’re interested in having a conversation with us about how we can support you, get in touch.