The analysis begins with a comprehensive overview of legal provisions for student participation in higher education governance over the past few decades. How has the involvement of students in decision-making processes developed? The answer will be provided for the sub-institutional level of faculties and degree programmes; the institutional level, which comprises several decision-making bodies, including student representatives; and the national level, where the role of students in the recently redesigned quality assurance processes is examined in depth. The second part of the article introduces the great variety of Italian student organizations and discusses the question of how these organizations represent students towards other governance actors. The article closes with a discussion of the factors and actors supporting or inhibiting the increase of the involvement of students in the governance of Italian higher education. (Contains 7 notes.)