Even though the student voice may not always be articulated or heard,  it is present and has the potential to feed into institutional student support programmes..There are three conceptualisations of student voice, in the design, implementation and review of student support programmes and interventions at institutional level; as partners, as producers of new insights/knowledge and as change agents in Higher Education (HE). These conceptualisations apply to the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Academic Monitoring and Support (AMS) programmes and interventions aimed at student success.

However, the concept of student voice is not without challenges and contestations. While the organisational culture and systems intended to enable student voices to develop and thrive may exist, it is not known how students are informed about the existence of these cultures and systems. There is also the assumption that student voice will lead to progress is unproblematic. The challenge is producing the evidence that student voice contributes to success in practice. Another pertinent question is which student voices are heard and which student voices are not heard and why. The students whose voices are not heard – do they have nothing to say, or do they choose to remain silent? How many student voices are not heard due to the predominant use of English in HE institutions? How do these challenges and contestations relate to Academic Monitoring and Support, including the First Year Experience Programme at UKZN?