The student as co-producer: learning from public administration about the student-university relationship

The dominant metaphor/model used to characterise the relationship of the student to the university, that is, the 'student as consumer', is partial and not appropriate to the realities of contemporary higher education. This article suggests that co-production, a concept drawn from the public administration literature, offers a more appropriate metaphor. In this metaphor, the student, lecturers and others who support the learning process are viewed as being engaged in a cooperative enterprise focused on the production, dissemination and application of knowledge, and on the development of learners rather than merely skilled technicians.