Former Trinity Student Union, Education Officer Dale Whelehan, has been appointed as the only Irish student representative for the Quality Assurance Expert Pool at the European Students’ Union (ESU). The ESU is an umbrella organisation of 45 National Unions of Students from 38 countries.
The ESU focuses on a range of student issues such as accessibility, higher education funding, to autonomy of students union and quality assurance . Whelan will work with ESU executive on quality assurance.
The Quality Assurance group was created to encourage student engagement in aiming to improve higher education in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The group includes 40 student members who are trained and involved in policy work within the ESU.
Speaking to Trinity News about the appointment, Whelehan said: “In the role I will work closely with national and international student organisations to disseminate practice of Quality, and promote student engagement in Quality processes surrounding Higher Education. I will participate in national institutional reviews, while working closely with the Union Students of Ireland to promote student engagement in Quality Assurance. I will also contribute on a national level to European policies and research on Quality Assurance, as well as work collaboratively with other nations to discuss issues facing the Higher Education Sector in terms of Quality of Education.”
Whelehan said he hopes to “expand the importance of student engagement in quality assurance of higher education, and promote the work of the student partnership agreement that was passed this year to help facilitate implementation of similar practices across other colleges and universities both in Ireland and on a European level.”
Whelehan was the Education Officer at Trinity Students Union during the 2016/2017 academic year.
Additional reporting done by Sarah Meehan.
