This study focuses on an intentional syllabus redesign prompting faculty in a research-led university to adopt agentic engagement practices for accreditation purposes. To develop this, a syllabus component was designed to align student agency with learning outcomes and assessment via lesson-specific action-oriented statements. Both as course designers and external examiners, university teachers provided experiential narratives of how this component can affect teaching practices, student learning, assessment and accreditation. Findings suggest that the student agency component prompted faculty to reconsider roles and practices and can be a driver of change as a quality standard for accreditation purposes.