This week, our paper about students as political actors has been published in the Journal of Youth Studies. This draws on the focus groups we conducted with undergraduate students in three Irish higher education institutions and three English HEIs. In the article, we draw out some similarities between the students in both countries, but also point to significant variation – particularly in the extent to which they believed they could make a difference, politically. We suggest that this is related to the structure of the higher education system in the two countries and, specifically, the degree of marketisation. You can read the full article (which is open access) here.