**1. Introduction**

Agenda 2063, the African Union development blueprint, recognizes equitable access to quality higher education as a critical barometer for success in achieving socio‐economic and technologi‐ cal development as well democracy and good citizenship. This is premised on the fact that higher education can contribute to social justice, socio‐economic, and technological development as well democracy and good citizenship [1]. Several cases of student activism have been reported in African higher education institutions (HEIs) as well as HEIs in other countries, thereby threat‐ ening to derail the gains of higher education in terms of producing well‐rounded human power ready for contributing to national development. A case in point is the one reported by Sesant, Kekana, and Nicolaides [2] describing an incident in 2015 when most of the 26 South African universities were brought to a standstill by students violently protesting against the proposed

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fee increases and demanding free education, in line with the government's earlier promises. This nationwide student activism was dubbed by its twitter handle hashtag #FeesMustFall and was preceded by the #RhodesMustFall protest, which successfully resulted in the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town within 1 month of the pro‐ tests that occurred there. The students at the University of Cape Town were demanding the Africanization of the faculty and curriculum as well as the "decolonization" of the institution through the removal of colonial symbols of "white supremacy", which they considered offen‐ sive and oppressive, notably the statue of Cecil John Rhodes. The protest was covered exten‐ sively in newspapers, on television, and radio and sent out through electronic and social media sites, both at national and at international levels [2].

The #FeesMustFall protests resulted in government freezing fee increases for the year 2016 and increasing fiscal support to public universities [3]. Furthermore, university leadership made various concessions in response to other localized student concerns [4]. For example, authori‐ ties at the Rhodes University (identified by Cecil John Rhodes' name) agreed to begin the pro‐ cess of changing the name of the university in line with the students' demands. Management at the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch conceded to demands for the adoption of English as the official language, replacing Afrikaans. The South African cases of student activism were characterized by violence, notably brutal clashes between student factions and clashes with security personnel and police; there was malicious destruction of property, including statues and artwork [5], with the damage estimated to be worth over R350 million [6].

In addition to South Africa, other African countries have had their share of student activ‐ ism. In Zimbabwe, Zeilig provided a detailed account of the impact of student activism in higher education [7]. In Kenya, 47 cases of violent student activism were reported between 1990 and 2000, characterized by clashes with police and wanton damage to property, serious injuries, and deaths [8]. In its 2000 report, the Kenyan Vice Chancellor's Committee depicts the nature of the student unrests as characterized by demonstrations, boycott of classes, closure of institutions, fierce clashes with police, stone throwing, closure of statehouses, commandeering vehicles, paralyzing the central business district, looting, and damaging buildings and equipment [9]. In Nigeria, there were 21 and 36 major cases of student unrest for periods between 1948 and 1979 and 1980 and 1996, respectively. In the latter case, riot police massacred 100 university students while 1000 others were imprisoned [9]. In Egypt, students from 18 HEIs protested against the uncertainty of the political system, resulting in the arrest and expulsion of 1352 students [10].

In the face of an increase in violent student protests in higher education institutions [11, 12] and the resultant destruction of infrastructure and human life, particularly in developing countries [13, 14], this chapter posits that campus environments unsupportive to student involvement and engagement can result in protests, while fostering a positive campus cli‐ mate for activism can inspire students to voice their concerns without open resistance [15]. Students, when properly engaged, can play a key role in enhancing the quality of higher edu‐ cation [16]. This concept has been dubbed "student voice," which covers the entire spectrum of initiatives that offer students a chance to participate as partners in all aspects of their higher education experience [17]. Paying attention to the "student voice" in various forms including surveys, student representation, complaints, grievances, protests, and social media provides a useful quality assurance tool in the detection of shortcomings in the delivery of quality higher education [18]. This chapter illustrates the importance of incorporating the student voice by embracing student activism and recommends a model for incorporating the student voice in order to successfully harness the positive aspects of student activism and improve the quality of higher education. Advances in technology facilitate student activism through the use of email, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, YouTube, and text messaging to com‐ municate causes to stakeholders and the public and to update each other about activities of different groups [19].
