Student engagement: buzzword or fuzzword?

Abstract

Global interest in the value of student engagement in higher education has led to question whether the use of term is clear and consistent. Through an analysis of qualitative data this paper investigates the construction of the term student engagement at three US universities. Whereas a shared understanding of the concept was found on one campus, the perception of the term on another campus was split to multiple directions. On the third campus the term of student engagement had not become popular and was replaced with alternative concepts. Aiming at contributing to the discussion on student engagement on institutional level this study revealed different patterns of bottom-up and top-down mechanisms affected the spread of the concept on campus.