Creating a sense of community in higher education contributes to a productive learning environment. These communities engage students beyond classrooms by promoting participation and increasing the degree of constructive alignment between their learner experience and desired university learning outcomes. The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) university-wide peer program “STIMulate” exemplifies this approach and is the subject of the case study in this chapter. At STIMulate, student-volunteers and program-staff interact as partners, creating a learning community that supports organic development of student culture, embracing the need for members to feel as though they belong and have agency. This philosophy aligns the program with institutional goals around social justice and brings together experienced student-volunteers and academic discipline specialists to provide accessible, student-led and university-wide support for their peers.
This chapter features mixed student and staff authorship, with the aim of comparing the lived experiences and developing a shared understanding of how to partner effectively throughout an honours research project. The partnership model as a conceptual framework was employed throughout the project, and is presented in this chapter as evidence of how a student-as-partner model can benefit tertiary student support services, as well as the individuals partaking in authentic partnerships.