The student engagement concept has been revolutionised so that students play an active role alongside staff members in determining their student learning experiences. Although the development of student--staff partnerships enhances student engagement and experience, empirical research on partnerships in Malaysia is scant. This paper contributes to the growing scholarly literature on such partnerships -- in particular, exploring postgraduate international students and staff members' partnership dimensions in extra-curricular activities at a research university in Malaysia. This qualitative study interviewed 33 postgraduate international students, 10 academic staff and 12 professional staff members. Based on the findings, the student-staff partnership model is well integrated into the extra-curricular activities: international students are invited to co-design and implement adjustment programmes for newly arrived international students. This paper also explores the multi-layered benefits of partnerships for postgraduate international students and for staff members. The implications of such partnerships for the university, international students and staff members are discussed.