Day of Action

Added on 07/11/2008

Thousands of people were engaged by tha activities of hundreds of students from across the country who partook in the day of action. The vast array of activities targetted different sections in the general public including school children, FE students, councillors, VCs, MPs and the readers and listeners of the local media.

Government Cuts £100m from Student Support

Added on 29/10/2008

The Government has announcement that students starting university in 2009 will only be eligible for a partial grant if their parents earn up to £50,020. Meaning financial support for future students is to be cut.

John Denham announced these plans today 29th October. Read full statement.

News coverage

Press Support for the Day of Action

Added on 23/10/2008

Regional NUS Press Release

We hope to issue a regional press releases about the activity in your region. If you would like your union's activity included send NUS the details of what you are doing, a contact name and number. If you send us this information before Tuesday 28th October we will include it the event grid we will issue the week. If you send your information before the Tuesday 4th November we can include it in the release on this day.

Model Union Press Release

We have also produced a model press release for your union to issue. We would strongly recommend that before you issue it that you localise the content with local and regional examples and details for your local media. With the results of the American elections dominating the national news, local media outlets will be looking for local news.

The Consultation on Alternative Funding Models is Now Open

Added on 21/10/2008

NUS is now embarking on the next stage of our education funding campaign.

NUS is opening a consultation to help us develop alternative policies on higher education funding. We will be consulting with the membership and sector stakeholders to develop new approaches that are fairer and more sustainable. NUS want to offer proactive and principled solutions to the funding debate, and to do this we need your opinions. It is vital that students and student unions submit their answers to our consultation and in doing so contribute to developing these ideas.

Consultation paper, please email responses to fairerfunding@nus.org.uk

The first consultation stage ends on the 17th December. The second stage will begin in the new year. Keep checking the website for more information.

North West Update

Added on 20/10/2008

Officers in the North West met to coordinate their plans in the region. Each union has decided upon who they'd like to target and developed an appropriate strategy to do so. They have decided to produce a regional press release, highlighting their individual union activities. The group would like to sign up as many student unions as possible so let us know if you'd like to be included. We need to know the details and the times of your activity and a contact for your union.

Broke and Broken at Manchester Metropolitan University's Students' Union

Added on 15/10/2008

The education funding campaign took pride of place at Man Met's freshers fair. As they started the year the way they want to carry on with high energy campaigning on education funding.

With Gordon Brown and the rest of the Labour Party up the road for conference during freshers, they got students to vote about a full review of higher education. They talked to students about the campaign and the inequality in the current system and then asked them to fill in a ballot paper. Each ballot paper had a space for name, postcode and email address (so that they can use it as a petition) and an option for yes/no on the question: 'Politicians said they wouldn't leave students in the red - I want a total review of university funding in 2009'. On November 5, they'll send it off with the letter that on their stall that said: 'Why would the same student get a £500 bursary at MMU but a £4000 bursary at Manchester? Because the system is Broke, and Broken'. They successfully got 500 people to vote on one day.

On the day of November 5 they hope to have a debate with their VC and President - modelled on the Democratic Party primaries. Students will be able to get involved by posting their higher education funding questions on YouTube. The debate will then be broadcasted on their website.

If you've got something planned for November 5th let us know so we can help promote it.

Regional Meetings for the Day of Action

Added on 06/10/2008

With the education funding campaign such a key priority for the movement this year NUS is leading and encouraging a variety of events and action to promote the issue and raise the debate. November the 5th is the designated date for action this term, although you may be planning other events on other dates too.

Please send at least one officer from your union to this - ideally the President, Education Officer or anyone that is leading on the EFC - so we can get a good idea about what is going on and you can plan a range of events to really grab attention.

South West Meeting

It is important for you and unions in your regions to think about how you can work together to promote the campaign, get as much media attention as possible and share ideas and resources. We recognise this is a busy time of year but this should mean we have just completed freshers and it gives us a month to plan action.

There will be a meeting at Exeter Guild of Students, Wednesday 8 October, 11:00am - 3:00pm.

South East Meeting

South East Campaign Planning Day on Friday 10th October at Reading University Students' Union from 11am-3pm. This will be an opportunity for you to plan activities for the localised day of action that is planned for Wednesday 5th November around the Education Funding Campaign. This will be a valuable networking event which will enable you to share ideas, discuss logistics, and ensure that the South East will be working together in order to be at the forefront of this campaign.

Reading University Students' Union, Friday 10 October 10, 11:00am - 3:00pm.

More information about what other regions and unions are up to can be found here.