Research On The Dilemma And Countermeasures Of Student Participation In Internal Governance Of Universities From The Perspective Of Empowerment Theory

China’s higher education has entered the stage of popularization and development since 2019,in this context,the active participation of relevant stakeholders inside and outside universities in university governance is an inevitable trend of the current higher education reform,and students’ participation in internal governance of universities as important stakeholders within universities is an important guarantee for promoting the improvement of the governance system and the improvement of governance capabilities of universities.However,at present,there are many difficulties in the participation of students in colleges and universities in China,and it is difficult to reflect the subjective status of students’ participation in university governance and meet the legitimate needs of students’ participation in the governance of universities.How to ensure the right of students to participate in governance in a moderate and orderly manner has become an urgent problem to be solved in the process of modernizing China’s higher education.The theory of empowerment emphasizes the care for vulnerable groups,and advocates helping the powerless to get out of the predicament by empowering the powerless and encouraging the powerless to take the initiative,which provides a theoretical research perspective for this research.At present,it is very rare to apply the theory of empowerment to students participating in the internal governance of colleges and universities in China.However,based on the connotation and value basis of empowerment theory,empowerment theory applies to student participation in the internal governance of colleges and universities.Therefore,based on the perspective of empowerment theory,this study explores the current situation,dilemma and causes of student participation in the internal governance of China’s colleges and universities,and on this basis proposes countermeasures to break through the dilemma of student participation.First of all,the literature on the theory of student participation in university internal governance and empowerment is reviewed and analyzed.On this basis,the internal governance of university,student participation and student power are defined,and the viewpoints and connotations of the empowerment theory are interpreted.This study comprehensively uses literature analysis,questionnaire surveys and interviews to explore what student participation in the internal governance of universities is,why students can participate in internal governance of universities,the dilemma of student participation in internal governance of universities,and how to ensure that students participate in internal governance of universities.In this study,undergraduate students of Z University were selected as the survey subjects,and the current situation of students’ participation in the internal governance of universities was investigated through questionnaires from the aspects of participation cognition,participation power,participation content level,participation channel,participation satisfaction,participation motivation and influencing factors.At the same time,the interview method was used to conduct in-depth exchanges with undergraduates and administrators of Z University to fully understand the current situation of students’ participation in the internal governance of the university.The survey found that there are problems such as the differentiation of students’ cognition,the weak awareness of students’ power and the one-sided motivation for participation,the limited level of participation content,the weak participation effect and influence,and the imbalance in the distribution of participating power.The root causes of the dilemma of students’ participation in the internal governance of colleges and universities are: the imperfection of the national legal system,the insufficient support of the empowerment concept and mechanism of colleges and universities,and the quality of students’ awareness to be improved.Based on the working mode of empowerment theory,this study proposes countermeasures to break through the dilemma of student participation from the two aspects of external force promotion and individual initiative: the state and universities are the external forces of student participation,and the state needs to improve laws and regulations and strengthen system construction to provide empowerment guarantees for student participation;colleges and universities should change the concept of governance,improve the university charter,and build an empowerment mechanism to consolidate the empowerment foundation of student participation.Students are the main actors of student participation,and it is necessary to strengthen the core of empowerment and take the initiative,and students should establish a sense of participation,correct ideological misunderstandings and strengthen learning practice.