Relational Change in Higher Education
How Students and Staff Navigate Diversity and Agency
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13054841 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helena Segarra (0000-0002-1797-8975, Austrian Academy of Sciences, corresponding author), Concha Antón Rubio (0000-0002-7217-9009, Universidad de Salamanca), Inga Juknytė-Petreikienė (0000-0001-9753-6327, Mykolas Romeris University), Lisa Tackie (University of Vienna) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Inclusion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2183-2803 • E-ISSN: 2183-2803 |
| Publisher | Cogitatio (PUBLISHER • PT) |
| DOI | 10.17645/si.11687 |
| OpenAlex | W7135046145 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 52 |
Higher education has traditionally been characterized by slow institutional change and entrenched norms, yet recent developments point to growing collective agency among academic staff, administrative professionals, and students. This study examines how different university actors—students, academic staff, and administrative staff—perceive diversity and their own agency in fostering change within higher education institutions. Drawing on Giddens’ theory of structuration and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, it explores how individual and collective actions both reproduce and transform institutional structures. Based on nine focus groups ( N = 56) across three European universities in Austria, Spain, and Lithuania, the research applies a shared coding framework and a mixed‐methods approach, combining qualitative content analysis with quantitative pattern detection. The findings show that perceptions of diversity and agency are shaped more by professional role than institutional context. Students emphasize lived experiences and grassroots activism but feel structurally underrepresented; academic staff frame diversity as a pedagogical responsibility that is constrained by workload and limited institutional support; while administrative staff interpret agency through procedural discretion and professionalism, yet face bureaucratic inertia. Across all roles, the participants reveal a sense of “diversity fatigue,” reflecting the emotional labor of unsupported efforts towards inclusion. The study concludes that meaningful institutional change arises less from formal policy than from relational alignment, mutual recognition, and collaboration among actors, which enables everyday transformations within existing structures
Agency (philosophy · Bureaucracy · Collective responsibility · Discretion · Diversity (politics · Focus group · Grassroots · Higher education · Sense of agency · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Higher Education Governance and Development · Social and Cultural Dynamics
Racism and Education
LGBT Student Leaders and Queer Activists
Introduction
The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (Cece) Model
The qualitative content analysis process
Qualitative data, cross‐language research and AI translation
“Decolonizing” Curriculum and Pedagogy
‘We can talk the talk, but we’re not allowed to walk the walk’
Towards decolonising higher education
Translation in cross-language qualitative research
Anthony Giddens and Modern Social Theory
Inclusive and Safe Environment for LGBTI+ in Lithuanian Universities? Reflecting Realities and Challenges
On Being Included
The State Nobility
Inclusive Universities in a Globalized World
Comparative Inclusion
The Widening Participation Agenda in German Higher Education
Intersectionality at German Universities
I’m stuck and not sure what the solution is”
Student activism, diversity, and the struggle for a just society
Racial and gender disparities in faculty perceptions of discrimination, exclusion, and inequities across department and university levels
Diversity situationships
Colorblind racial ideology and student expectations and reactions to a university-sponsored diversity workshop
Student-led institutional change for diversity and inclusion
The rules of the game
Decolonizing higher education
What are inclusive pedagogies in higher education? A systematic scoping review
Gender mainstreaming
Using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to explore higher education decision-making for working class women on an access to higher education course
Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations
Naturalistic inquiry
The making of inclusion as structuration
Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis
The language of diversity
| Highly cited | No |
|---|