Opening NUS’ doors…to FE

Added on 07/11/2008

Calls for change in NUS have been particularly fervent from our members in the further education (FE) sector.

While NUS has had some major wins in FE over the past few years, particularly in terms of giving students a voice in how their colleges are run, in our consultations, FE students said that they felt alienated from NUS and powerless to influence our decision-making.

This is hardly surprising since despite making up two-thirds of the membership, FE is significantly under-represented among NUS’ leadership.

So a major part of these reforms is about giving FE a greater stake in NUS and more opportunities to get involved.

Which changes particularly affect FE?

First and foremost, changes that improve NUS as a whole, affect all our members, be they FE or HE. However, some of the changes are particularly geared to making us more FE-focused.

National Conference - NUS’ sovereign decision-making body - will have a greater FE delegate allowance: At present, part-time students (mainly from FE) have substantially fewer representatives because of the way each union’s entitlement is calculated. The delegate entitlement (that is, the number of students from each union able to attend conference) will be significantly increased for part-time students thereby giving FE unions and students a greater voice.

The reforms will also ensure that more FE students can get involved in NUS on a national level. Currently, out of the 27 members of NUS’ leadership on the National Executive Committee, only two come from FE. Under the new system, the National Executive Council (the political leadership of NUS) will have a guaranteed minimum of five places for FE students.

The reforms include the development of the FE policy Zone. This Zone - headed by the Vice-President for FE and an FE Committee- will discuss and debate all important issues pertaining to FE. The difference to the current set-up will be that the Zone will launch widespread online consultations so that it is much easier to feed into the process. Unlike today where getting your voice heard is limited to an annual conference, the Zone will allow greater scope for informal discussion, more chance to get your own issues aired, better access to information and much more opportunities to play a part in NUS’ policy-making.

NUS wants FE students to be heard and these reforms are key to making this a reality.

Find out more at:

www.nus.org.uk
www.officeronline.co.uk/reform

New research into the cost of studying in FE

Added on 07/11/2008

Yesterday evening NUS and the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) launched a new piece of research called “The True Cost of College”. The report, the product of a six month research project, is the first overview survey of the costs and support available in FE for a decade.

Key findings in the research include:

• Students in FE rely mainly on their personal earnings and family and friends for financial support.

• 60% of students working while studying to meet the cost of their education, with 42% of those working more than 15 hours a week.

• More than a third of all FE students contemplate dropping out of their course for financial reasons, 12% saying that had done so often. For adult students 18% said they have considered dropping out frequently.

• Between and quarter and third of student said they had lost earnings by participating in FE, 80% of whom said they had lost more than £50 and £15 saying they had lost more than £250.

• Aside from the EMA, the majority of students reported they were not fully aware of the financial support available and more than a quarter said they not received the full amount of support to which they were entitled.

The report’s publication follows that of a separate piece of research into the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) conducted by NUS and together the reports pain a bleak picture of the current levels of support for learners in further education.

To read the full report click here.

FE Campaigns Launch

Added on 04/11/2008

The event united Further Education officers from across the country and introduced them to NUS' campaign areas for the year ahead, notably Citizen 16 and CALL.

The launch offered students practical and interesting advice on further education and how they can campaign for change. Training was offered too, on everything from funding and childcare to how to make your college Fairtrade.

Students also had the opportunity to question the Director of Youth Services from the Learning and Skills Council about the delays surrounding the delivery of the Education Maintainance Allowance (EMA) this year.

More resources and information from the day will be available soon so please keep checking the website.

What have your staff been talking about?

Added on 30/10/2008

Over fifty staff who support student leaders attended the LSIS/NUS “staff who support learner voice” events held across the country last week. The events discussed improving elections, developing your students' union and mentoring student leaders. View the presentation. Cornwall and Bradford students unions gave excellent presentations on how they developed their students union. If you would like to ensure staff attend the next events at Bradford College, 24th February 2009 and North Herts College, 26 February 2009, please book via LSIS on Lindsay.irvine@CentreForExcellence.org.uk.

Urgent call for case studies

Added on 22/10/2008

In two weeks NUS and the Learning and Skills Network will be launching our research into the hidden cost of further education: “The true cost of college: the price students pay for further education”.

To coincide with the launch we will are looking for FE students willing to act as case studies for local regional and national media. Ideally, we would like to speak to students who find their education difficult to afford and/or work, receive the Education Maintenance Allowance or Adult Learning Grant to help them make ends meet.

If you are interested in being a case study or know someone who might be please contact Jon Carroll, NUS Press Officer on jonathan.carroll@nus.org.uk or 0207 380 6604.