Pass it on: NSS handover 2008

Added on 15/05/2008

NUS is running two workshops for teams of current, and newly elected, officers/staff members involved in the promotion or use of the NSS to come together, exchange key information and learn how to get the most out of the survey.

As well as being a good early networking opportunity, current officers and staff will have the opportunity to pass on their knowledge. In turn, new officers and staff will learn how to hit the ground running for NSS 2009 and the 2008 results.

A buffet lunch and refreshments will be provided, so please register your interest as soon as possible as there are a limited number of places available.

Free event for staff and officers
Thursday 29 May, 10am-3:30 pm, London.

Monday 2 June, 10am -3:30pm, Lancaster.

Register online
Register via email

Download the schedule

Higher Level Skills Consultation

Added on 13/05/2008

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has launched a consultation on the UK Government's future strategy for skills and employer engagement. NUS are preparing to respond to the consultation and we are very keen to include as many case studies and examples of how students' unions engage with their institution's work around employability and skills - e.g. through the careers service. We are also keen to include your comments and thoughts about the questions asked in the consultation document.

Please send all comments and case studies to: mark.leach@nus.org.uk

For more information, download our short briefing: here

To read the DIUS consultation in full, you can download it: here

RUSU gets a result

Added on 12/05/2008

Earlier in this academic year, RUSU undertook a huge research project to gauge what students are feeling about their time at university. With the results now in, three film and theatre studies students took the time to spice up the statistics and create a short film of the feedback.

Final year students from across the UK are offering similar feedback through the National Student Survey. Have your students taken part?

Teaching and the student experience

Added on 08/05/2008

Paul Ramsden, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Academy, has been asked to conduct a review into teaching and the student experience by Secretary of State John Denham. Given the importance of the learner voice to NUS' work in education, this is a great opportunity for your students to make their voice heard. Time is, however, short with the responses due in by Friday 16 May.

The full remit is to:

• Offer a perspective on how higher education institutions and academics, in the UK and internationally, are currently responding to the evolving student expectations of their educational experience
• Assess what are the main challenges for the future in maintaining and improving the quality of that experience
• Examine how these challenges might be met

This work will inform government policy in producing a 10 to 15 year framework for the development of higher education. For further information please see the DIUS website.

Students are a key stakeholder in this review, he would like to hear their views on the above aspects and so we would encourage you to fill in the survey. In order to provide a framework for dialogue he has drafted a set of questions accessible via an online survey at the HE Academy website.

Responses should be completed by the end of June.

He has also set up a blog at and would welcome engaging in dialogue with students regarding any of the above aspects.

A long-term solution to plagiarism

Added on 21/04/2008

For many of you, the issue of plagiarism remains firmly on your union's agenda. It has been an ongoing issue for students and institutions are using increasingly more sophisticated methods of detection, and so the result is that more students are being caught and punished.

However, we believe that simply using detection is not a long-term solution to this problem. Students need to be deterred from plagiarising, either deliberately or accidentally, by effective induction and ongoing support. Institutions that choose instead to employ the 'plagiarism police' simply create an unhealthy culture of mistrust that penalises the majority of non-cheating students.

This briefing will hopefully act as an introduction to some of these issues, as well as giving you ideas about projects and campaigns that you can pursue in your unions.

Download the briefing.