So, my most recent project may at first seem a little random (that’s certainly how it appeared to me at the start) but bear with me and everything will be revealed. I hope…

A couple of months ago I was asked by Hannah Essex to chaperone a group of ten Ukrainians on their visit to the UK whilst they researched Students’ Unions. I agreed, having previously been a delegate to ESIB (you will recall my previous un-finished blog – apologies one and all), and later discovered that I’d have to organise the entire trip!

Still slightly in the dark about what exactly was expected of me I took my cue from the working title of “Student-self governance, modern European experience best practice and the Ukraine” (what a mouth full). Begging favours I secured days out at Birmingham and Cambridge Unions and visits to King’s College London Union, University of the Arts London Union, University of London Union, and NUS. In the end I think the delegates were surprised by the packed schedule!

They arrived on Monday 16th May and stayed a week, investigating all aspects of student representation and the way that Students’ Unions run. They were immensely impressed by all they saw (“We could not imagine that such a thing was possible”) and much to the surprise of the project co-ordinators (who arrived from the Ukraine on the Friday and stayed till Tuesday 24th) the ten delegates left the UK full of enthusiasm and ideas. On Tuesday 24th I had a day-long meeting with the four Ukrainian co-ordinators and two delegates from France. It was during this final day that I fully grasped what the project was about and its implications for NUS.

It seems that a few years ago Chris Weavers (Hannah’s predecessor) had agreed to be the second EU partner in an EU/non-EU European project with the Ukraine organised under the auspices of TEMPUS (I still have to find out what that stands for). The idea was to develop students’ unions in the Ukraine in order to enable a National Ukrainian students’ union to enter ESIB and to allow Universities to develop greater student feedback and responsibility. (Back in the days of Perestroika in the late 80s students had been allowed to elect University rectors but those days it seems are long gone, with student representation being rather fleeting and tokenistic).

So good old NUS decided to help and promptly forgot about it. This is of course a general problem in SUs which tend to have short organisational memories, but it’s a trend which has meant that NUS UK has looked a little foolish on the European stage in various matters. As I discovered on the final day of the Ukrainian visit this is only the beginning of the project, which will involve future return visits to the Ukraine and more visits here and to the University of Dunkirk in France (the other EU partner). The project has some funding form the European Commission for travel so it won’t cost NUS UK a penny. It will though hopefully go some way to sharing the considerable knowledge and expertise we have as an organisation, and serve to remind us of how fortunate we are here.

Whilst I was explaining NUS’ financial situation, one of the delegates commented that NUS UK had “Problems with money” and they had “Problems and no money” which I found both humbling and refreshing. I hope the Unions who participated (to whom NUS owes a vast debt of thanks for such excellent provision at such short notice) found the experience as enlightening as I did. And I hope that this is the beginning of a long a fruitful partnership in which NUS realises how much it can to learn and how much it has to give.

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