







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 4; 2025 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n4p218 

 218 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Research on Optimization Strategies of Private College Students' 

Participation in Student Community Governance from the Perspective 

of Synergy Theory 

Lingli Zhang1 & Qing Zhang2 

1 Hunan University of Information Technology, China 

2 Hunan Agricultural University, China 

Correspondence: Lingli Zhang, Hunan University of Information Technology, China E-mail: 

1837343189@qq.com 

 

Received: August 17, 2025; Accepted: August 25, 2025; Published: August 26, 2025 

 

Abstract 

With the deepening of higher education reform, the construction of "one-stop" student communities in private 

colleges has become an important path to improve educational efficiency and management level. However, 

compared with public colleges, private colleges face more significant collaborative dilemmas in the process of 

students' participation in community governance. Based on the perspective of synergy theory, this paper deeply 

analyzes the evolution process and current situation of "one-stop" student community construction in private 

colleges, and focuses on revealing the existing collaborative problems: information silos between departments lead 

to fragmented decision-making, uneven resource allocation restricts service balance, traditional management 

inertia weakens students' participation efficiency, and lack of institutional guarantees affects the sustainability of 

participation. The root cause lies in the tension between the unique "board-led president responsibility system" in 

the governance structure of private colleges and the bureaucratic management model, as well as insufficient 

understanding of students' subject status. To this end, this paper proposes systematic optimization strategies: first, 

construct a "multi-subject collaborative governance" mechanism, clarify the rights, responsibilities and interests 

among the board of directors, administrative departments, student work teams and students, and improve the 

student congress system; second, build a "digital intelligent collaborative sharing platform", use information 

technology to break data barriers, and establish a mechanism for accurate identification of needs and dynamic 

allocation of resources; third, implement a "capacity-incentive" dual-drive plan, improve students' literacy and 

ability to participate in governance through systematic training, and build an incentive mechanism that combines 

material and spiritual incentives; fourth, create an "inclusive collaborative cultural ecology", strengthen 

community identity under the leadership of the Party building, and cultivate an open, trusting and cooperative 

governance atmosphere. This study aims to provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for private 

colleges to break through governance bottlenecks, stimulate students' main vitality, and realize the modernization 

of community governance[1]. 

Keywords: Synergy Theory, Private Colleges, One-stop Student Community, Student Participation, Governance 

Optimization 

1. Introduction 

The university student community is a core field for college students' study, life and social interaction, and its 

governance model is directly related to the quality of talent training and the harmony of campus ecology[2]. Since 

Chinese universities began to explore the "one-stop" student community model in 2004, this model has gradually 

evolved from providing basic accommodation services to a comprehensive platform integrating education, 

management, service and education functions. In 2019, the Ministry of Education launched a pilot project for the 

construction of a "one-stop" student community integrated management model, highlighting the four elements of 

"Party building leadership, team stationed, student participation, and condition guarantee". By 2022, the Ministry 

of Education further clarified its connotation and four basic requirements of "information support, service-oriented 

management, educational environment, and intelligent platform", marking that the construction of "one-stop" 

student communities has entered a new stage of comprehensive promotion and quality improvement[3]. 



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 219 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

However, compared with public colleges, private colleges have encountered more complex collaborative dilemmas 

in students' participation in governance in the process of promoting the construction of "one-stop" student 

communities due to differences in their school-running system, resource allocation, governance structure and 

student source characteristics[4]. Private colleges generally implement the board-led president responsibility 

system, with relatively short decision-making chains, but administrative tendencies and cost-effectiveness 

considerations sometimes squeeze the institutional space for student participation. At the same time, students' 

background of paying for their education makes them have higher expectations for service quality, but their subject 

status and participation rights are often ignored, leading to a mismatch between "demand and supply"[5]. 

Synergy Theory, founded by German physicist Hermann Haken, emphasizes that subsystems within a system can 

produce an overall effect of "1+1>2" through non-linear interactions. This theory provides a powerful framework 

for analyzing the interactive relationships between multiple subjects (administrative departments, student work 

teams, student organizations, individual students, etc.) in private college student communities[6]. Student 

participation in governance is no longer simply "soliciting opinions", but through effective collaborative 

mechanisms, transforming students from managed objects into subjects of co-construction, co-governance and 

sharing, thereby achieving optimal resource allocation, accurate service supply and multiplied governance 

efficiency. 

Therefore, based on synergy theory and focusing on private colleges as a specific type, this study systematically 

examines the practical dilemmas, causes and optimization paths of students' participation in governance in the 

construction of "one-stop" student communities, aiming to provide academic support and practical solutions for 

solving collaborative problems, stimulating governance vitality, and building a modern student community 

governance system. 

2. Connotation of Synergy Theory and Its Applicability in Private College Student Community Governance 

2.1 Core Connotation of Synergy Theory 

Synergy theory is an emerging discipline that studies the common characteristics of different things and their 

synergy mechanisms. Its core essence is that when elements within an open system form good collaboration and 

cooperation, they can achieve evolution from disorder to order, and produce a synergistic effect where the overall 

function of the system is greater than the sum of the functions of its parts. This theory emphasizes the dominant 

role of order parameters (key parameters that determine the evolution process of the system) and the formation 

process of self-organization (the spontaneous formation of ordered structures within the system). In management 

practice, synergy means promoting different subjects to coordinate their actions for common goals through the 

establishment of effective rules, platforms and mechanisms, ultimately achieving resource sharing, complementary 

advantages and efficiency improvement. 

2.2 Applicability in Private College Student Community Governance 

The governance system of private college student communities can be regarded as a complex open system. It 

contains multiple subsystems: administrative management system (logistics, academic affairs, finance, etc.), 

student work system (counselors, class teachers), student autonomous system (student union, associations, floor 

leaders), and external support system (enterprises, families, communities). These subsystems may originally 

operate independently and even have conflicting goals (such as administration pursuing efficiency and students 

pursuing individuality), thus causing "collaborative dilemmas". 

3. Current Situation and Collaborative Dilemma Analysis of Private College Students' Participation in 

Community Governance 

Despite continuous promotion at the policy level, private colleges still face multiple collaborative dilemmas in 

practice of students' participation in "one-stop" community governance, mainly reflected in the following four 

aspects: 

3.1Structural Collaborative Dilemma: Institutional Barriers and Ambiguous Rights and Responsibilities 

The centralized decision-making in the governance structure of private colleges often places student participation 

in governance in a position of "post-event consultation" rather than "in-process co-construction". The student 

congress system often becomes a formality, lacking a normalized mechanism to transform student proposals into 

actual policies. Various departments (such as logistics, student affairs, security) have clear responsibility 

boundaries but lack collaborative interfaces. When students encounter cross-departmental issues (such as 

dormitory network repair involving operators, logistics and network centers), they have no one to complain to or 

fall into the dilemma of "departmental buck-passing". This reflects the lack of a strong collaborative order 

parameter at the system structure level to integrate all parties. 



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3.2 Technical Collaborative Dilemma: Information Islands and Data Isolation 

Although private colleges generally attach importance to information construction, business systems of various 

departments (such as academic management, dormitory management, payment systems) are often purchased 

independently with inconsistent standards, forming solid "data chimneys". Students' behavior data, demand data 

and service data cannot be shared. For example, academic early warning information fails to link with 

psychological counseling systems, and application for community activity venues still requires offline stamping 

and running around. This not only causes low management efficiency, but also makes it difficult to achieve data-

based precision services and student demand insight, and the system cannot achieve efficient collaboration through 

information exchange. 

3.3 Subjective Collaborative Dilemma: Weak Participation and Inadequate Ability 

On one hand, there is a phenomenon of "uneven enthusiasm for participation" among students. Most students are 

busy with their studies and employment and are indifferent to public affairs; a few student leaders are overburdened 

and fall into "transactionalism". On the other hand, schools lack a systematic capacity training system, and students 

are deficient in rules of procedure, project management, communication and coordination, making it difficult for 

them to put forward constructive opinions or conduct effective supervision even if they participate, resulting in 

significantly reduced participation quality. This reflects that the "self-organization" ability of the subsystem 

(student subject) has not been fully activated. 

3.4 Cultural Collaborative Dilemma: Lack of Trust and Weak Sense of Community 

Cultural construction in private colleges often focuses on "enrollment and employment" and "campus stability", 

with insufficient cultivation of a community culture of "sharing, co-governance and co-construction". Management 

departments "distrust" students, fearing they will "cause trouble"; students "distrust" management departments, 

considering them "formalistic". This lack of trust leads to a fragile collaborative foundation. At the same time, 

students come from diverse backgrounds with high mobility, and their sense of belonging and identity to the school 

is generally weaker than that in public colleges, which further exacerbates the "free-rider" psychology and 

insufficient internal motivation to participate in community governance. 

4. Optimization Strategies for Private College Students' Participation in Community Governance: From 

the Perspective of Synergy Theory 

In response to the above dilemmas, guided by synergy theory, this paper constructs the following "four-in-one" 

optimization strategy system: 

4.1 Improve Collaborative Governance System Design and Build a "One-core, Multi-element" Co-governance 

Structure 

Strengthen Party building leadership and top-level design of the board of directors: Give full play to the political 

core role of the Party organization in private colleges, and elevate "student participation in governance" to the 

level of school development strategy. Establish a "Student Community Governance Committee" under the board 

of directors, composed of school leaders, department heads and student representatives, as the highest coordinating 

and decision-making body, responsible for formulating the "Charter for Student Participation in Community 

Governance" and clarifying the scope of participation, rights and responsibilities. 

Improve institutionalized participation channels: Strengthen the student congress system and establish a closed-

loop management process of "student proposals-department response-result announcement". At the community 

level, implement a grid-based autonomous system of "building leaders-floor leaders-dormitory leaders" and 

establish a "Student Affairs Joint Meeting" to allow student representatives to conduct face-to-face consultations 

with heads of logistics, security, academic affairs and other departments on a regular basis. 

Establish a list of rights and responsibilities and process reengineering: Sort out and publicize the list of rights and 

responsibilities of various departments in community affairs, and simplify cross-departmental business processes. 

Implement the "first-question responsibility system" to eliminate prevarication. 

4.2Build a Digital Intelligent Collaborative Platform to Break Information Barriers 

Construct an integrated "smart community" platform: Integrate data from academic affairs, logistics, student work, 

finance and other systems to create a unified APP or mini-program portal. Realize "one-click application for 

services, one-click information query, one-click complaint feedback", with all processes operating transparently 

online. 

Use big data to achieve precise governance: By analyzing data such as student campus card consumption, access 

control and network usage, accurately identify groups of students in need, predict peak demand for community 



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services, and realize intelligent push and dynamic allocation of resources (such as automatically sending safety 

reminders to students returning late, and pushing academic assistance information to students with learning 

difficulties). 

Establish a digital evaluation and feedback mechanism: After each service is completed, the system automatically 

invites students to evaluate, and the data is collected and analyzed in real time, which is used as a basis for 

department assessment and service improvement, forming a digital closed loop of "demand-supply-feedback-

optimization". 

4.3 Implement "Empowerment-Incentive" Dual Drive to Activate Students' Subject Potential 

Build a systematic training system: Offer courses and workshops such as "Student Leadership Training Camp" 

and "Community Governance Practice", with training content including project management, financial 

management, communication skills, policy analysis, etc., to comprehensively improve students' participation 

ability. 

Design scientific incentive mechanisms: Incorporate students' performance in participating in governance into the 

comprehensive quality evaluation system, linking it with awards, evaluations and recommendation for Party 

membership. Establish honors such as "Community Governance Star" and "Golden Idea Award", and explore 

incentive models that combine material and spiritual incentives such as "time bank" and "volunteer service points". 

Give play to the peer leading role of student leaders: Support and guide student autonomous organizations to carry 

out activities in accordance with laws and regulations, encourage them to undertake some community service 

projects (such as study room management, cultural and sports activity planning), exercise their abilities in practice, 

and form a demonstration effect. 

4.4 Cultivate Collaborative Culture and Create a Community Spirit 

Strengthen value guidance and community identity: Through activities such as the first lesson of the new semester, 

community cultural festivals, and dormitory decoration competitions, publicize the concept of "my community, 

my responsibility" and enhance students' sense of belonging and ownership to the community. 

Promote an open and transparent communication culture: Regularly hold "Principal's Luncheon" and "Department 

Open Day" to establish a regular communication mechanism between management and students. Use public 

accounts and bulletin boards to timely disclose the decision-making process and results of major community issues 

to win students' trust. 

Create an inclusive and trusting governance atmosphere: Encourage trial and error and innovation, and give patient 

guidance rather than simple rejection to immature suggestions put forward by students. Recognize active 

participants, disseminate successful cases, and make collaborative governance a new campus trend. 

5. Conclusion and Outlook 

In the context of educational modernization and improved governance capacity, promoting students' in-depth 

participation in "one-stop" student community governance is not only an external need for private colleges to 

respond to policy requirements and improve service quality, but also an internal pursuit to stimulate endogenous 

motivation and build a characteristic education model. Synergy theory provides us with a scientific perspective 

and methodology to solve the current collaborative dilemmas faced by private colleges. 

The optimization strategy system proposed in this paper aims to make systematic efforts from four dimensions: 

system, technology, subject and culture, promoting a profound transformation of private college student 

community governance from "single management" to "multi-subject collaboration", from "passive response" to 

"active participation", and from "experience-driven" to "data-driven". However, the effective implementation of 

these strategies still requires sponsors and managers of private colleges to practically change their concepts, truly 

regard students as equal governance partners, and continuously invest resources. Future research can further 

explore: how private colleges of different sizes and development stages choose differentiated implementation paths? 

How to build a scientific evaluation index system for students' participation in governance effectiveness? And 

while digital technology empowers students, how to avoid data ethical risks? Exploration of these issues will 

jointly promote the deepening and maturation of private college student community governance practice. 

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