NUS Referendum: All you need to know from UoNSU
The NUS and the Students’ Union
Every university is obliged by law to maintain some form of Students’ Union. The University of Nottingham Students’ Union is pretty much what it says on the tin - a democratic organisation run for students, by students. Every student at the university is a member of the SU. A big part of our job is to represent your voice, the student voice, to the university; local community; and country as a whole.
One of the ways Nottingham Students’ Union can represent your views is by entering into formal partnerships with others. At the moment, the Students’ Union is in formal partnership with the National Union of Students (or NUS). The NUS is basically a federation of over 600 Students’ Unions across the county. Most SU’s in Britain are affiliated to the NUS, but not all. Ultimately the decision to be affiliated or not, rests with the members of each students’ union - the students!
What is the Students’ Union position?
The Students’ Union at the University of Nottingham will remain neutral in the referendum. Our priority is to ensure a fair and informed conversation takes place, where every Nottingham student can participate. Like other students, elected Officers are free to express their opinions, but in this matter, the Officers have agreed their views should not represent the collective position of your Students’ Union.
How does affiliation influence students’ lives?
Supporters of NUS affiliation argue that affiliation offers Nottingham students a wide range of tangible benefits. Students wishing to disaffiliate dispute this. Instead they contend that leaving would in fact open up opportunities. In the interests of ensuring you have the full picture, we set out the key facts and arguments below.
Financial Implications for the Students’ Union
To be affiliated to the NUS, the Students’ Union pays the NUS an affiliation fee of £52,440.40 each year.
In bald terms, that’s the cost. However, it’s not that simple. Life never is!
This is because, by being affiliated with the NUS, we get a number of financial benefits back.
By being part of the NUS, Nottingham students are able to purchase NUS Extra cards. Every time a student does so, the Students’ Union takes a cut. As a result the Students’ Union generated £29,250.40 of post-tax income from NUS Extra card sales in 2014-2015.
In addition, by being part of the NUS, the Students’ Union is able to join in the larger NUS purchasing consortium. In plain English, that means we are able to buy things in bulk. And as a result, buy it cheaper. Getting these discounts saved the Students’ Union £31,820.88 last year.
So overall, once you’ve balanced the costs of affiliation, against the commission on NUS extra cards, and retrospective discounts, you end up with a net benefit of being part of the NUS of roughly £8,630.
Now it’s worth saying that no figure is exact.
The Students’ Union also spends money on sending NUS delegates to the NUS national conference, for example. And no doubt both sides will say the economics work in their favour.
In the grand scheme of things, the Students’ Union could cope financially in or out.
However this is our best estimate. And the £8,630 saved by being part of the NUS can all be put back into the things we support - such as societies, sports clubs, or welfare services.
Financial Implications for YOU - NUS Extra Cards
Over four thousand University of Nottingham students have bought an NUS Extra card this year. The card enables students to access over 160 discounts negotiated between companies and the NUS. To give a few examples, these discounts include 50% off Spotify, 40% off Zizzi, and 10% off in Pizza Express, Topshop/TopMan, The Co-op and ASOS.
Students will not be able to buy an NUS Extra card if the Students’ Union disaffiliates.
Other providers such as MyUniDays or Student money saver offer many of these discounts, but not all.
As a standalone organisation, the University of Nottingham Students’ Union could try to secure discounts with local shops. However it is unlikely we would be able to secure 160 local, national and international discounts like NUS can through the Extra card.
Where would the money be invested in if we left?
There won’t be any more money – as the above calculation indicates, financially we have slightly more money being a part of NUS.
Is it easy to re-affiliate?
Technically re-affiliation is a relatively easy process. In reality however, we would need to get broad student consent to re-affiliate, which would likely mean another Referendum!
Training, support and legal advice for Staff and Officers
The NUS currently play a sizable role in equipping and supporting students’ unions’ full-time and part time Officers to undertake their roles to the best of their abilities. The training of these students is vital, as ultimately they lead your Students’ Union.
A programme of training is delivered each summer that is tailored to the responsibilities of each Officer. This training programme helps Officers to get up to speed on the key elements of their job so that they can fulfil their duties.
In addition, the NUS offers a range of behind the scenes support; providing research and briefing materials and legal advice that is tailored to the status of students’ unions as charities and the specific regulatory framework that SUs exist within.
Over the past year your Students’ Union has used the NUS’ briefings and research to better evidence our campaigning particularly in relation to the Government’s Higher Education Green Paper, (which proposes a future rise in tuition fees and which you can read more about here.) The NUS has also helped us conduct a Trustee Board Effectiveness review, looking at SU governance.
We have also drawn on legal advice especially commissioned by the NUS on the role of Students’ Unions in the EU referendum and Police Crime Commissioner Elections.
Campaigning
There are a range of student opinions about the effectiveness of NUS in relation to campaigning to create positive change for students.
Many students have criticised the NUS for no longer being a credible, legitimate campaigning organisation which puts students at the heart of their work. They have argued that NUS no longer represents their views, does not prioritise correctly, and is not effective at achieving change. Some have also criticised the NUS for pursuing a ‘no platform’ policy, which they say hinders students’ ability to hear and debate different ideas freely.
In response to this, others point to the achievements of the NUS. Historic examples of NUS success include securing students an exemption from paying council tax, or negotiating a student discount on the rail services. More recently the NUS have worked to create Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes, which have strengthened the ability of students to enforce their housing rights in the private-rented sector. And within the last 2 years the NUS’s achievements have included successfully lobbying the Government to remove the age cap on students eligible to access Postgraduate loans.
This year, SU Officers have utilised NUS resources on a national and local level, most recently their materials on Prevent and the ‘Bursary or Bust’ briefing packs, which your Officers used on Wednesday 25th May when going down to Westminster to lobby MPs to protect NHS bursaries.
Recent controversy over elections
The incoming President of the NUS is Malia Bouattia who defeated incumbent President Megan Dunn, with 50.9% of the vote at the NUS’s National Conference earlier this year.
There is no question that Malia Bouttia’s election caused controversy. During the election campaign, attention was drawn to comments she made in 2011, when she referred to the University of Birmingham as “a Zionist outpost in higher education,” whilst also noting that it had “the largest Jsoc in the country.” Many students were concerned by these comments, and the National Union of Jewish Students requested “urgent clarification” from Bouattia.
In response Malia argued that “to take issue with Zionist politics is not me taking issue with being Jewish.” Malia’s supporters have subsequently pointed to her track-record in standing up for minority rights whilst being the NUS’s Black Students’ Officer, particularly in her work with Prevent.
Malia will serve as the NUS President from summer 2016 until the summer of 2017. She will be eligible to stand for re-election for one further year in office.
NUS Democracy and Officer Accountability
One of the concerns that students have raised at other institutions as part of this debate is about the structure and accessibility of NUS’s democratic decision making processes and the mechanisms for holding elected officials to account. Critics have suggested that there is an inability or unwillingness to reform from within the organisation.
On 17th May 2016, in a seeming recognition of some of these criticisms, the current and incoming Officers of NUS all signed an open letter which pledged to:
“…spend our year openly and honestly addressing the concerns that students have put to us, explaining what we do, learning what you want from your national union and exploring how we can best achieve that.
At National conference 2017, we will bring a new proposal for NUS’ democracy to be more transparent and representative, as well as a new model of affiliation fees for students’ unions – to ensure the very best deal for students’ unions.’
It therefore remains to be seen what tangible democratic reforms will result.
Conclusion
As stated, it is our wish in this referendum for all students to make their own minds up about whether the Students’ Union should remain affiliated to the NUS or not. We would therefore encourage all voters to research everything that they can about both sides of the argument before casting their ballot.
Thank you for reading!
Cast your vote at www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/make-the-change/democracy/referenda
