As Higher Education institutions increasingly turn their attention to creating a culture of inclusivity and diversity the student voice is becoming progressively valued. Thus, the increased attention in Students as Partners over the last five years is timely, whereby students and educators collaborate in curriculum design. This article explores Bachelor of Music (Honours) students’ perspectives of a recent initiative where they collaborated in enhancing one of their research courses with their educator (the author) and two Honours graduates. With the aim of creating assessments that were relevant, timely and interesting, students and graduates were invited to participate in a planning meeting where they undertook SWOT analyses of assessment items. Potential due dates and potential new assessment tasks were also explored. Two focus groups were then conducted: one after the planning meeting and prior to the course commencing; the other upon completion of the course. These explored any perceived benefits of the partnership and students’ experiences within the course. 186 Co-creating the course with students and graduates resulted in a strongly relevant course design. Students indicated possessing deep ownership of their learning, an enhanced sense of belonging, and sustained motivation and engagement. Most notably, transparency around the process, and not only the product was most valued by students, as well as involvement in the decision-making process and transparency around expected student experiences. Graduate involvement was welcomed, with their recent experience of the course contributing to achieving consensus in the decisions made. Horizontal alignment of workload across the Honours program was also appreciated. Students’ engagement was enhanced by the existing strong rapport between the educator and students, with students being accustomed to active learning and providing feedback in an earlier research course. This initiative highlights that curriculum design is less about the educator and more about the students, and that feelings of involvement, belonging and ownership should not be underestimated. Questions remain about how such an approach to partnerships might unfold with earlier undergraduate courses, especially when cohorts are larger or there is no pre-existing student-teacher relationship. How to create such strong ownership where partnerships might not be appropriate also requires further attention. Given participants’ unfavourable perspectives on their previous undergraduate course plans, insights into undergraduate music students’ understanding of their courses more broadly and any consequent impact on their engagement would be useful. This could inform a more inclusive approach to curriculum and program design.