We have a number of websites across the internet; a confusing mix of information, events, campaigning, advice and support, attempting to achieve different outcomes using differing methods. Given NUS’ commitment to increasing its capacity to campaign, to maximise the time that students’ unions have and create efficiencies within the organisation, we must evaluate what we are trying to achieve online.

Over the last few months we have sought to freshen the existing websites at nusonline and officeronline, with regular new content and a new design, but we recognise that ultimately the existing software (CMS) is not sufficient for the purposes that we need.

Gemma, Stephen and myself have all talked in the past about how we improve our communication with the membership, and as we have begun to set the right tone for the organisation due to the MVV (mission, vision and values) and Strategic Plan, we recognise that there is substantial opportunity to improve with our technological capabilities.

This blog is very much a celebration that we are delivering our manifestos!

Our online presence must be reflective of our vision as an organisation; a pioneering, innovative and powerful campaigning organisation: the definitive national voice of students. Fighting barriers to education, empowering students to shape both a quality learning experience and the world around them, supporting influential, democratic and well-resourced students’ unions.

The new website should be the first point of call for society, decision makers, students, and students’ unions. It should increase the success of our campaigns, advocate our position as the national voice of students, creating a sense of unity between all of our members. As students’ unions are increasingly under attack, or their role within the local community is challenged, we should be demonstrating the strengths of our members through the website. To achieve this we will showcase the campaigns of students’ unions and promote each students’ union link to their website.

One particular aspect we are quite excited about is the opportunity to make the organisation increasingly accessible, and we have established that one of the key performance indicators of the new site is that it is recognised as a leader in accessibility.

There are three particular aspects to how our online presence will be organised, the website as detailed above, an extranet and an intranet. All three will complement each other, but put simply the audiences can be divided as follows;

• The main Internet website – anyone
• The extranet – students’ union officers and staff,
• The intranet – staff of NUS and NUS Services.

The extranet will be unique to each user. This is the opportunity for students’ union officers and staff to log on, communicate between each other, share experiences and develop campaigns. It will integrate events booking, online payment, image galleries and material ordering for campaigns.

Put simply, we are at a turning point for the organisation. We have undergone a difficult staff restructure, the creation of the Strategic Plan and a culture supporting the new mission, vision and values. To ensure that NUS is relevant to students and fit for purpose for students’ unions we must change our governance structures and our website to achieve this.

The project is being jointly funded by NUS and NUS Services, allowing us to develop a website which meets the needs of both organisations, and ensures greater cooperation. We are working with a company called Code to help us achieve our vision.

We start the project from a blank page, it will not simply be the movement of existing websites, but will require substantial content, training for staff and officers, and clear expectation management.

This is very exciting, and will take up a considerable amount of Stephen and my time over the next few months, but we are determined to ensure that we shape our online presence to reflect the needs of the membership.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

dave x

dave.lewis@nus.org.uk

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