Introduction: Reflections on Student Being and Becoming in the Contemporary University

What is it to be a student in the contemporary university? How does one become a student, and is being a student simply the result of registering with a particular institution? What does (or should) a student do? Does she simply study, or how else is the ‘being’ of a student expressed? Of course, these questions may seem simple to answer, at least on one level. They are questions that go to the heart of the motivations and practices of academic staff lecturing and supporting students in higher education. There are also questions that, in some ways at least, are the concern of those with responsibility for managing, leading, funding and regulating higher education. But this edition seeks to move beyond such apparently obvious answers to consider again what might be at stake in the idea of student being and becoming.
This special edition, on the theme of ‘Student Being and Becoming’ came about following the annual conference of the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) on the same theme. This was held at Middlesex University, London, in 2018. The theme was selected at the previous year’s conference in Denmark, partly, at least, because there is much potential in bringing philosophy and theory to bear on matters relating to the student – and being and becoming a student – in the contemporary university. The student is the focus of much attention in the media, particularly at the time of putting together this special edition when the world is in the grip of a global pandemic that, at least for a period, is changing radically the nature of our universities and how our students can study in them. Teaching, learning and studying has largely gone online. Prospective students talk about whether it will be possible to ‘be a student’ in a socially distanced campus where gathering together for lectures and social events may not even be possible. For some, even the prospect of becoming a student in such strange times is difficult, leading some to consider postponing their plans to be a student, and to pursue other options. What is clear is that being, and becoming, a student may be a very different experience for some time to come. In the history of our universities, then, it seems that there have been few moments when it has been as urgent to think about what it means to be, and to become, a student.