The
National Union of Students (NUS)
is the main confederation of students'
unions that exist inside the United Kingdom
. Although the NUS is the central organisation
for all affiliated unions in the UK, there are also the devolved
national sub-bodies NUS Scotland in
Scotland
, NUS Wales
in Wales
and NUS-USI in Northern Ireland
(the latter being co-administered by the Union of Students in
Ireland).
NUS is a member of the
European
Students' Union.
History
The NUS was formed in 1922 at a meeting held at the
University of London. At this meeting,
the Inter-Varsity Association and the International Students Bureau
(which organised student travel and had been lobbying for a
national body) agreed to merge.
Founding members included the unions of
University of
Birmingham
, LSE
, Imperial College London
(who first left in 1923 and have subsequently
rejoined and left three times, the last time being in June 2008),
King's College
London
(who supplied the first President (Sir Ivison Macadam)) and the University of
Bristol
.
Financial crisis
In recent years, the NUS has faced a prolonged financial crisis,
caused by a coinciding of spiralling expenditure and decreasing
income. A series of measures were proposed to address this, of
which the most controversial included a series of changes to the
constitutional and democratic processes. In 2004, two emergency
conferences passed some of the changes proposed, albeit not without
fierce dispute between those claiming the proposals were necessary
reforms to maintain the existence of the organisation and those
arguing that they were aimed at curbing democracy and involvement.
The 2006 NUS Conference passed an extremely controversial policy
enabling the NUS to launch a paid-for student discount card, in
September, called 'NUS Extra', on sale to students at
GB£10.
Membership
All UK students' unions are able to join the NUS (providing they
are not controlled by their parent institution and their admission
is approved by National Conference). To become a constituent
member, unions must pay an affiliation fee to NUS, which is based
upon the number of students in the union, and the money received by
the union from its parent institution.
The NUS now has over 700 constituent members (the unions of either
higher education or
further education establishments) through
which it represents approximately five million UK students, which
equates to approximately 98% of all students and hence potential
members. However, a small number of high profile educational
institutions are not members.
These include the University of
Glasgow
, University of St Andrews
, University of Dundee
, University of Southampton
and Imperial College London. In recent years NUS membership has become a
controversial issue with some unions seeing
general meeting motions and
referendums on the membership issue.
The NUS have in the past received criticism for spending
significant amounts of time and money in running pro-affiliation
campaigns at universities to ensure that they win
referendums.
Recent
leavers of the NUS have included UMIST (which
is now re-affiliated through its merger to form UMSU), the University of Sunderland, the
University of
Southampton and Aston University
as well as Imperial College London. However,
these defections have been partly counterbalanced by the entry into
membership of the
University of
Edinburgh. The
University
of Northampton also re-affiliated itself with the NUS in
October 2007, having disaffiliated in 2001.
Democracy
The NUS holds national conferences once a year. National Conference
is the sovereign body of NUS, and is where NUS policy is decided.
Other conferences, such as Regional Conferences, Women's
Conference, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans Conference (changed
as of 2004), Disabled Students Conference, Black Students'
Conference and the International Students' Conference (created in
2004) are run to enhance the representation of the specific members
they include.
Most of these conferences, and in particular the elections held at
them, are hotly contested by
faction including
Conservative Future,
Education Not for Sale,
Labour Students,
Liberal Youth, the
Organised Independents,
Socialist Students,
Student RESPECT, and
Student Broad Left. In addition to these
political factions, interest groups such as the
Federation of Student
Islamic Societies and the
Union of Jewish Students are deeply
involved in the internal democratic processes of NUS.
Services
NUS offer a number of services to their constituent members. NUS
owns a 25% share in
NUS Services. NUS
Services started out as a purchasing consortium that allows its
members to benefit from bulk purchasing discounts. NUS and NUS
Services work closely with the
Association for
Managers in Students' Unions.
Criticisms
The NUS has come in for criticism from various quarters,
particularly from those students' unions who are not affiliated.
Sen Ganesh, then president of
Imperial College Union, said in 2002:
"NUS's claim to be representative of students is not borne out by
their work", especially as "the NUS is dominated by Labour students
and this diminishes the ability to address student issues in an
impartial fashion.”
The NUS has in particular come in for criticism for the way its
democratic processes are structured. Unlike individual student
unions and despite the rise of online voting in Universities, NUS
officers are not directly elected by students, but instead elected
by delegates. For extraordinary general meetings, there doesn't
even need to be a cross-campus election of delegates . Some have
argued that the NUS National Conference is unrepresentative of the
opinions of students across the country, once famously starting a
campaign to raise the price of alcohol at students' unions, and
that in turn the National Executive Committee does not always
reflect the wishes and priorities of students.
The NUS has also been criticised for what appears to be an
obsession with selling its 'NUS Extra Card', which offers students
discounts on certain purchases, rather than confronting issues that
actually affect students. Despite an NUS Policy that none of the
discounts on the original free NUS card would be moved to the 'NUS
Extra Card', proposed by
Cambridge University
Students' Union, NUS Treasurer Dave Lewis went against policy
and removed the discounts from the original free NUS card.
Current & recent issues
AUT/NATFHE (UCU) marking boycott controversy
In 2006 the
Association of University
Teachers (AUT) and the
National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher
Education (NATFHE), announced a one-day strike, to be followed
by ongoing "action short of a strike" in the form of an assessment
boycott (with the AUT, though not NATFHE, including the setting of
exams in the boycott) as part of their pay negotiations with the
Universities and
Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), with many lecturers and
teachers not marking exam papers.
Initially the NUS leadership, headed by Kat Fletcher, gave support
to the lecturers' unionarguing that it was essential to secure an
increase in lecturers' wages; The understanding was that the NUS
was not supporting the AUT-only boycott of setting or marking
exams. However this support was not reflected across all students'
unions affiliated to NUS and some tabled an emergency motion to the
2006 NUS National Conference; however this was not debated. This
provoked strong criticism that the NUS stance on one of the major
education issues of the day had been decided without consultation
of the membership.
Subsequently a number of students' unions went public with their
opposition to both the boycott and the NUS support for it. A member
of the NUS National Executive-elect drafted a counter letter in
support, signed by a number of students' unions, whilst direct
online petitions of students opposed to the boycott attracted an
ever growing number of signatures. . A petition completely in
favour of the boycott had attracted rather fewer signatures.
An opinion poll jointly commission by
London Student and
Times Higher
found that 77% of students opposed the boycott, although 67%
supported the general principle of increasing lecturers' pay.
Many have criticised the NUS as unrepresentative of its members,
and have questioned to what extent the NUS actually represents
students' interests. Some students' unions have gone so far as to
threaten to withhold part of their affiliation fees. Many other
students' unions have maintained support for the teaching unions,
including some which have agreed to go beyond the NUS stance,
backing the AUT/NATFHE action fully. (The poll was published after
many students' unions had already adopted their pro-boycott stance,
and it is not clear to what extent the student unions were already
aware of student opposition).
The NUS later advised AUT/NATFHE, following feedback from over 100
unions, that their partial support for action could not be
indefinite and is wholly dependent on seeking a fast resolution.
This, along with criticism meted out to the employers' negotiators
(UCEA) by the Parliamentary HE committee chair Barry Sheerman MP,
seemed to have an effect as a pay deal was soon reached by the
newly merged lecturers' union, the
University and College Union
(UCU).
Fairtrade
The
Fairtrade NUS Campaign was started by students
at the
University of
Edinburgh in autumn 2005. The campaign, which has now been
joined by numerous other
students'
unions in the UK, is calling for 100% of the hot beverages
(
tea,
coffee,
hot chocolate etc.) sold by member unions of
the NUS to be accredited with the
Fairtrade
Mark.
The campaign is supported by a number of NGOs and charities,
including
Oxfam,
Trade Justice Movement,
People & Planet and
CAFOD.
While it
is hotly contested amongst the Universities about who were the
original Fairtrade University,the Fairtrade foundation gave this status first and
worked with Oxford Brookes University
who spearheaded the movement - with the University of Edinburgh a close
second.
Governance review
The 2008 Conference in Blackpool was dominated by the governance
review debate and vote. The proposals were for a restructuring of
the running of the Union but the vote was lost by 25 votes (a
two-thirds majority was required). The review was criticised for
what was felt by detractors to be an attack on the organisation's
democractic accountability . Its supporters however defended the
review as providing a more 'innovative' corporate structure which
was hoped to make it more credible in negotiating policy, rather
than simply 'reactive'. This was not well received by many in the
executive with President, Gemma Tumelty, vowing to press ahead with
reform. The perceived lack of progress on governance reform has
also prompted
Imperial College
Union to hold a referendum on disaffiliation..
Revised proposals were drafted and submitted to a extraordinary
conference in
November 2008. The
conference passed the proposals by 4 votes to 1. A second
extraordinary conference to ratify the proposals (the constitution
requires that any changes are passed by two consecutive
conferences) took place on
20 January
2009. The proposals were accepted by a huge majority and the new
constitution came into force.
Presidents
Area organisation
National Union of Students Areas are support
organisations, affiliation to which is open to individual
students' unions which are usually (but not
always) already affiliated members of the UK-wide National Union of
Students of the United Kingdom ("NUS"). Membership of an Area
organisation is optional (determined by the normal democratic
process at each students' union) and is paid for by subscription in
addition to the cost of affiliation to the national body.
Area organisations meet together to support each other through the
Areas Political Convention (formerly the
Areas
National Convention), and are able to attend the National
Union's annual conference as non-voting observers. Additionally
Area Conveners have sometimes been members of the Executive
Committees of the "special regions" (Scotland (
NUS Scotland), Wales (
NUS
Wales), and Northern Ireland (
NUS-USI).)
The position of "Areas" within the
Constitution of the National Union has long
been somewhat controversial. They do not feature in all printed
editions of the Constitution, but have not been officially
dissolved by the decision-making Annual Conference of the national
body. They are nominally autonomous or semi-autonomous, but often
use some of the same branding and certainly have access to the
resources of their regional and national offices.
The current National Union of Students website has this to say
about areas:
At one time almost all NUS regions contained several Area
organisations; Scotland for example was divided into "NUS North of
Scotland Area", "NUS West of Scotland Area" and "NUS East of
Scotland Area".
In this example, the East of Scotland
organisation tended to work very closely with the national
(Scottish) organisation due to being based in the same city,
Edinburgh
. In more remote parts of the country, the
Area organisations are intended to form a useful first point of
contact and readily accessible person to assist the local student
unions.
Areas normally have a "Convener" who is generally a current student
or one who has just graduated, and will take a year, theoretically
(but not always) paid, to work for the Area — known as a
"sabbatical" in the case of current students, and in this sense
following the model of the sabbatical officers of students' unions
at individual educational institutions. Occasionally the Convener
would serve two or even more years in office. Those Areas able to
afford the costs may send their Convener to a training session
provided by the National Union. In any event, the regional
organisation will normally provide training and support.
Because of their local perspective and autonomous nature, it is not
uncommon for Areas to be involved in conflicts with the national
organisation. Conversely, political groupings (and the fulfilling
of obvious functions and shared goals) within the bodies sometimes
draws them into very close co-operation.
West Midlands Area National Union of Students
West Midlands Area National Union of Students
(WMANUS) is the oldest of the current National Union of
Students Areas and operates as a semi-autonomous organisation of
the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom.
WMANUS works with
affiliated Students' Unions in the West Midlands of England
on campaigns, training, union development and other
issues of relevance to students in the region. Area
organisations are now starting to re-establish themselves across
England with the establishment of the
South East Area
National Union of Students (SEANUS) and the Anglian Union of
Students (ANGUS) - with others looking to follow.
WMANUS has two full-time convenors who are supported by a part-time
Executive Committee. It holds two Conferences (Spring and Winter)
every year to discuss policy, elect its new Executive committee and
determine the direction and work of the Area. Its main aims are to
represent all students of affiliated Student
Union/Associations/Guilds on educational and welfare issues across
the West Midlands region. It runs regional wide campaigns as well
as specific training events for its Constituent Members
(CMs).
Liberation Campaigns
LGBT Campaign
The first national officers were elected in 2000, after NUS Annual
Conference voted to change the constitution in order for the
positions to be created, despite some opposition. There are two
officers for the NUS LGBT Campaign, one is open place and elected
by LGBT student delegates to the NUS LGBT Conference, the other is
a woman's place and is elected only by women delegates.
| Year |
Open Place Officer |
Women's Place Officer |
| 2000/1 |
Beth Aze |
Vicki Austin |
| 2001/2 |
Carli Harper-Penman |
Vicki Austin |
| 2002/3 |
Daniel Murphy |
Carli Harper-Penman |
| 2003/4 |
Carli Harper-Penman |
Sarah Thompson |
| 2004/5 |
Ben Miskell |
Kat Louis |
| 2005/6 |
James-J Walsh |
Kat Louis |
| 2006/7 |
Scott Cuthbertson |
Claire Anderson |
| 2007/8 |
Scott Cuthbertson |
Claire Anderson |
| 2008/9 |
Daf Adley |
Lucy Brookes |
| 2009/10 |
Daf Adley |
Lucy Brookes |
Disabled Students' Campaign
Formerly the Students With Disabilities Campaign, the name was
changed in 2006. Alex Kemp was the first NUS Disabled Students'
Officer under the new title. However in many individual
students' unions the phrase is still
"Students With Disabilities".
| Year |
Disabled Students' Officer |
| 2000/1 |
Linda McGowan |
| 2001/2 |
Chris O'Sullivan |
| 2002/3 |
Barry Farleigh |
| 2003/4 |
Barry Farleigh |
| 2004/5 |
Sian Davies |
| 2005/6 |
Sian Davies |
| 2006/7 |
Alex Kemp |
| 2007/8 |
Alex Kemp |
| 2008/9 |
Adam Hyland |
| 2009/10 |
Adam Hyland |
Black Students' Campaign
| Year |
Black Students' Officer |
| 2000/1 |
Denis Fernando |
| 2001/2 |
Denis Fernando |
| 2002/3 |
Michelle Codrington |
| 2003/4 |
Michelle Codrington |
| 2004/5 |
Pav Akhtar |
| 2005/6 |
Pav Akhtar |
| 2006/7 |
Ruqayyah Collector |
| 2007/8 |
Ruqayyah Collector |
| 2008/9 |
Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy |
| 2009/10 |
Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy |
Women's Campaign
| Year |
Women's Officer |
| 2000/1 |
Helen Russell |
| 2001/2 |
Kat Fletcher |
| 2002/3 |
Kat Fletcher |
| 2003/4 |
Hannah Essex |
| 2004/5 |
Jo Salmon |
| 2005/6 |
Jo Salmon |
| 2006/7 |
Kat Stark |
| 2007/8 |
Kat Stark |
| 2008/9 |
Katie Curtis |
| 2009/10 |
Olivia Bailey |
References
Many of these links no longer function. Please rectify.
- http://www.epigram.org.uk/view.php?id=906
-
http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/CD22_Resolutions.pdf
- Ucea ordered to explain pay dispute comments |
Education | guardian.co.uk
- Blairite revolution in NUS is defeated |
Mortarboard | Guardian Unlimited
- NUS Governance Review defeated at last stage |
Education | News | News | UPSU.net
- Anthea Lipsett on changes within the NUS | Students
| EducationGuardian.co.uk
- Students vote against union's governance changes |
Education | Education Guardian
- Live!
- Council Calls NUS Referendum
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