Environmental Justice

The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, Volume 11, 2022 Edited by Steven Kohm, Kevin Walby, Kelly Gorkoff, Katharina Maier and Alex Tepperman, The University of Winnipeg, Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies (CIJS), ISSN 1925-2420 (Print), ISSN 2816-4253 (Online)

We define and explore hydrosocial territories as spatial configurations of people, institutions, water flows, hydraulic technology and the biophysical environment that revolve around the control of water. Territorial politics finds expression in encounters of diverse actors with divergent spatial and political-geographical interests. Their territory-building projections and strategies compete, superimpose and align to strengthen specific water-control claims. Thereby, actors continuously recompose the territory’s hydraulic grid, cultural reference frames, and political-economic relationships. Using a political ecology focus, we argue that territorial struggles go
beyond battles over natural resources as they involve struggles over meaning, norms, knowledge, identity, authority and discourses.

ABSTRACT: Student-involvement in higher-education is necessary for quality-assurance outcomes, yet such involvement also threatens attainment of quality assured, presenting the paradox of higher-education (HE) systems. With the massification of enrolment-figures across the HE sector has been the need to balance HEI and student-centred perspectives. The notion of students as co-producers, consumers, and products of HEI processes creates discord in the quality assurance arena. Contradictory problems manifest when the producer must satisfy the consumer and audit quality of the products, yet students are all of these. This article explored the extent to which student-involvement fosters quality as well as sets parameters beyond which such participation cannot be done without compromising quality-assurance and desired academic-success. The article drew a line for student-involvement and
quality- assurance as double-barreled and sometimes paradoxical, contradictory pursuits. Data elicited from two HEIs in Zimbabwe
using the questionnaire method and analysed using Microsoft Excel package generated descriptive frequencies and related graphs
and charts to present findings. Documents were analysed using thematic content analysis to glean for relevant secondary data. Student-involvement is marred by unclear parameters at the three confluences of ‘students as co-producers’; ‘students as consumers’; and ‘students as products’ of HEI quality-assurance processes students should participate in, consume, and be products of. Derolling is thus necessary for students to function in various capacities as as co-producers, consumers, or as products. Students as ‘co-producers’ cannot be expected to produce themselves through ‘students as products’, neither can they be ‘consumers’ themselves while being the ‘product’ to be consumed by industry and communities through employment and innovation. The
National Assembly should address contradictions through amending HEI-establishing Acts to cede policy making powers to the University Councils acting jointly with senior management of universities. As co-producers, students involvement should be unlimited at governance levels (by different HEI students) while as consumers (within particular HEIs), student involvement should be limited to lower rungs at consumer level to avoid contradictions that potentially compromise quality. As HEI products, students should be limited to Alumni activities as main function should clearly differentiate among the various roles when crafting HEI
policies that foster student involvement.

KEYWORDS: higher-education-institutions, student-involvement, quality-assurance, students-as co-producers, paradox