Good Morning Everyone, and let me first say how pleased I am to be invited here today to address you all so soon after my election in Blackpool last month.

It’s a pleasure not only because it’s a chance to meet you all, listen to your concerns and outline my vision for the future; but also because its one of my first experiences of speaking as the newly elected leader of one of the largest democratic student organisations in the world, and that I am very excited about.

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When Mark asked to me to speak today he asked me to outline what I saw as the challenges for NUS and the wider movement in coming months and years. In short, he wanted me to tell you what the point of NUS is and will be as we move forward, and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to share my thoughts with you. It’s a challenging, ambitious and I hope forward thinking agenda that builds on the best of NUS, refocuses our organisation on campaigns, collectivism and student activism and provides a stable future for students, their unions and their national union.

Let me start with where I think we are. In my view, when I first got involved in my union at John Moores 6 years ago, students' unions were becoming increasingly irrelevant to their membership. There was, as I started engaging in my union and going to NUS events, a big gap between the union as representative body and the union as social space, an increasing gap between the rhetoric of my fellow officers- that students’ unions are representative organisations and the reality- that they were commercial enterprises.

When I became an officer, I wanted my union to again become relevant. In my view, the lack of relevance led to a steady decline in the number of students who became involved with the democratic and committee processes of my union. Maybe there are some exceptions- and as you’ll see from our research next month, we’ve had an increase this year, but long term the percentage of the student population who vote in elections is in decline, and many unions today have huge difficulty in engaging their members in their structures.

There are a number of obvious reasons for this. Through looking at the involvement from students in the Make poverty history campaign and at the organised student activism we have seen surrounding the coca cola debate it’s obvious that there’s been a cultural shift from big political parties and union structures towards single issue campaigns, towards more inclusive and creative modes of working together. Look at the anti war movement for another brilliant example of how political involvement has been re-defined whilst I’ve been in education. Campaigns now include such a variety of social classes, age, gender and ethnicity. The issues contested by campaigners have relevance beyond one group, but what distinguishes them is how they campaign. This might include public inquiries and even demonstrations. But it also includes stunts, parties, events and costumes. It is a form of involvement that is issue based and celebrates diversity.

People told me that students were apathetic- but I always thought it was unions that were being apathetic; in other words, it was my view that students' unions have failed, and are continuing to fail, to really involve the diversity of their membership and make them angry about the world around them, so they feel compelled to take action to change it.

Many people talk of the so called golden age of students’ unionism, when students took to the streets and some of our now cabinet ministers staged sit ins and strikes. But the truth is, we were empowering those already empowered. Giving leadership skills to the people, who because of their background, needed them least. That’s why when I see new universities and FE Colleges struggling with election turnouts and participation, I know that the mistake is to assume that when we widen participation we narrow our perceptions of students towards consumerism and services rather than collectivism and rights. No, it’s not easy to encourage people to build a society for themselves and others. Yes, we need to look at new routes of involvement and new forms of action. But when we’re faced with depoliticisation, low participation and individualism, we can never assume that all we can do is run focus groups and surveys to make our student leisure centres better reflect their so called needs.

So yes, it’s clear that students’ unions have failed to adapt to change in response to the demographic changes in education.

When students' unions were initially established the population of higher education was predominately white middle to upper class males. The aims, objectives, structures and values that informed the creation of students’ unions were a reflection of those white middle class men. But times have changed- the student population is no longer homogenous, it’s difficult to define the archetypal ‘student’- and look. Even a girl from an Ex-Poly can be President of NUS these days.

‘Student’ does and will increasingly mean someone who is female, someone from a black and minority ethnic community, someone who began their course in their late 20’s and above, someone who is disabled, someone who has worked, who has grown up and lives in the community where they study, someone who already has a system of support networks and social activities in place before they enter higher education. This was the challenge facing me, as a Vice President Welfare trying to get my students involved in welfare campaigns, in volunteering and in Union Council, and as we saw in yesterday’s diversity session it still is the challenge facing students’ unions today.

NUS has a long and proud history of groundbreaking diversity work. It is not unusual as the guardian the recently pointed out to see women stand for president, and win, to see openly gay speakers stand on out platform at conference and make speeches, and the range of expressive religious diversity is now so strong that it has become a source of political debate in our movement rather than a novelty. This year our movement has seen more black students become leaders of their students’ unions than ever before, has seen our disabled students campaign challenge, and defeat, the government on the damaging and regressive mental health bill, has seen women students stand up and speak out against the disgrace that is the gender pay gap and our movement has stood strong whilst some took the attacks of 7/7 as an opportunity to attack and oppress Muslim students on our campuses. But is not just the campaigning work we know that involvement in the mainstream in students’ unions transforms students lives, and nowhere is it more transformative, than student involvement in the day to day work of those committee’s, those conferences and those training events. Five years ago our liberation campaigns joined forces for the first time to train and educate all officers from across the movement on equality, diversity and liberation. Now in its sixth year I hope, and trust, that when you are sat discussing the budgets for officer training this year that you prioritise this agenda and help your officer to find the resources, time, money and motivation to attend.

Remember it was NUS that popularised the use of the word chair rather than the word chairman in the 1980’s, remember it was NUS that elected a black president back in the 1970’s, and it is NUS that year after year, day after day are supporting people in their struggle for liberation.

And let me just say, that when I use words like struggle and liberation some people say that NUS is being old fashioned, that we are being dated, that we are stuck in the 70’s but looking around this room I am not sure what looks more dated.

We all know, certainly respect and mostly champion the right of students to self organise, self determine and speak on behalf of each other. We know that when students speak up for themselves, punch above their weight and challenge power they learn, and their universities get better, and society gets better too. And that is why I am proud to lead an organisation that also respects the right of disabled students to speak on behalf of each other, for women students to fight inequality, for black students to overcome oppression and yes, for lesbian, gay, and bi-sexual students to make their own decisions, have their own policy, set their priorities with our unwavering support.

Of course there is more that we can do, to take liberation into the main stream, there always is. And that’s why I am proud that our liberation officers, our liberation committee’s and our liberation staff will be working with together with you and NUSSL on this autumns joint diversity seminar, by building diversity in every area of our student movement, challenging ourselves, challenging our practices, challenging our assumptions and challenging the idea that the fight for liberation is old fashioned NUS rhetoric.

How do we engage such a diverse range of individuals, with such a complete range of needs and desires? How do we speak to people, many of whom dismiss the students' union as irrelevant to their study in higher education, in a way that offers more than consuming beer in our bars? How do we increase participation when we ask people to attend meetings with agendas focussing on the union’s internal affairs like who will staff the safety bus rather than their education or their society?

Well, it’s out with the old and in with the new. Yes, elected officers changing every year makes consistency hard. But it also means a fresh energy and purpose each year. So here’s mine.

Actually, I’m joining you today having spent the first part of the morning- and intending to spend the whole of the rest of the afternoon- recruiting a new Regional Officer for NUS for the North West. As part of that process, we’ve asked them to outline the challenges they think the students and the student movement face in the coming years- and to offer thoughts on what NUS can and should do about it.

And the results that we’ve had back have been interesting. Some have focussed on Top Up Fees, and the challenge NUS faces in remaining principally opposed to students paying for their education but at the same time try to make the best of a very bad situation without being left behind harping about Free Education from the sidelines. It’s a challenge I know we’re all reflecting on as we fight for our share of money that we never really wanted.

Some have focussed on politics, and political apathy. At the opening of our new offices in Camden last week, Tony Benn said that this was the most apolitical generation in history.

I disagree – I don’t think students are apolitical but maybe they are depoliticised – its up to all of us to change that. Students and activists increasingly reject the student movement as a place and space to help them enact change, I do believe that we can all do more to harness their energy and talent.

And some of them have focussed on the challenges facing students’ unions- declining bar revenues, poor election turnouts, and dealing with increasing diversity. None of them believe there is a magic wand or a secret solution to these issues- but all of them, and I know all of you, have been creative, thoughtful and passionate in their desire to see a better student movement and though it a better world.

One candidate’s submission seemed to focus on what she described as the “negative role” that General Managers have in resisting change. And that’s where I really want to start today- on our relationship with AMSU. Because for the most part, I think that candidate is wrong. Let me say now, here, and in the words of Ellie Russell my VP FE Colleague “Loud and Clear”- the relationship we have with you is necessary, vital and valued in my vision for a Campaigning, Involving & Winning Student Movement.

Back in 1928, in his introduction to the NUS Annual Report the then NUS President, Frank Darvell wrote:

“…the staff of NUS constitute at once the strength and weakness of the organisation.

They are its’ strength because they introduce continuity into an otherwise inevitably ephemeral society; they enable ideas to be translated into practice and reality to be made of the stuff of resolutions; they relieve already overworked students from an intolerable burden of secretarial duty; and they absorb experience and mould traditions.

They are its’ weakness mainly because they need money for their maintenance; but also in a more subtle way because, by the very fact they are the one unchanging element in an unsteady community, they tend to direct as well as serve. The staff ceases to be a support and becomes a goad. That danger can and has been guarded against…”

He then went on in his report to outline the strategy for NUS staff in his report- all three of them. I know that both me and my student officer colleagues across the country have a bigger challenge than that in ensuring that we get the relationship right- so let me set out my principles.

I start by believing that virtually all staff in the student movement work here not for pay or plaudits, but for a better world. We place a high premium in NUS on values and I know that’s that what motivates many of you too. That’s why I want motivated staff- able to be creative and passionate whilst working towards an agenda owned and controlled- collectively and democratically- by students themselves.

Protocols and policies are important, but getting beneath them to build trusting, open relationships based on a shared commitment to our values is what I intend to do in NUS and hope you intend to do locally too.

But it’s also about performance. I won’t accept- and I will advise all of your officers not to accept too- poor performance from any staff, not least senior staff. And we all know that often it’s the people who don’t participate in events like this and collaborate and engage that are often the problem and drag us all down. That’s why we’ve introduced courses on Appraising GM’s. That’s why we’ve dramatically improved our resources on Governance and assessing union performance. That’s why when we run Presidents’ residential we encourage officers to compare notes on their union staff. Because I, like you, want staff in our movement to be the best democratic, member organisation staff in the world- developing, serving, honest, loyal, dedicated people that want to help others to change their unions, change education & change the world.

At a national level that means unprecedented levels of partnership work with AMSU, NUSSL and others- our 5 year strategy will root out gaps and overlap to deliver the best possible value for our members and ultimately our students. But it also means making it work throughout the student movement locally too- encouraging our local staff and you and your officers to deliver for students in the most efficient way possible.

So that’s the first box of the speech ticked- our relationship with AMSU. Or not quite. Because let me say at the outset of my term of office that, I do not believe that a merger with AMSU or NUSSL is or should be on the cards for NUS.

Yes, we should share expertise, buildings or even back office functions.

Yes we should work together on matters of common concern pooling expertise and rooting out bad practice.

Yes, we should even examine the functions of each organisation and root out overlap or develop work to fill in the gaps.

But that doesn’t and shouldn’t mean merger. And I believe that for three key reasons.

Firstly, the democratic cultures of the organisations in our student family- and the way we involve people, debate things and decide things, is necessarily different. That’s not to say that I believe NUS is perfect- far from it- but we have examined ourselves, listened carefully to our members concerns and the changes we have made to our democratic processes, not least at Annual Conference have meant more involvement from students and their elected officers without it losing its ability to be passionate, controversial and surprising in equal measure.

The second- and I’ll not apologise for this- is that I believe in a big NUS. I know there are people in this room wanted the arrival of a new National Director to herald an era of small NUS- cutting services and staff back to the bone as unions faced financial cuts. But throwing the bathwater out- some of our services, some of our senior staff and some of our practices- never meant throwing the baby out too. When my colleagues on the NEC visit student movements in Europe and across the world, all of them marvel at our size and capacity to deliver change and engage students in education and politics. Just because we are the envy of student organisations across the world, doesn’t mean we are delivering all that we can achieve, or that we have reached our capacity, or indeed that it is time to stop evolving and growing, Leaner and meaner? Yes. Cutting waste and bureaucracy? Absolutely. Demonstrating value to our membership, Of course. But a tiny NUS? Not while I’m in charge.

But thirdly, I don’t want a term of office spent navel gazing at structures. Kat, of course, did what she had to do- and we all know it needed doing- changing NUS internally. But now I, like Kat, want to focus back out- on our members, on our education system, on our society and our world. So let me now outline my vision for NUS- United, campaigning Political & Winning.

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As National President, my philosophy will be simple: Listen and lead. Or perhaps more accurately, listen then lead.

It is only together that we can begin to deliver on the ambitious agenda NUS has before it. Together, we’re going to start at the top. Stephen, our new national Secretary, Joe, our re-elected treasurer, and I; a united team that will lead by example.

We have an exciting agenda, a clear vision for a united, campaigning and organising NUS.

And this springs directly from the core values on which NUS was founded and which remain the cornerstone for our future.

I start by wanting a fighting NUS. If we fight we may not always win, but if we don't fight we will surely lose. That philosophy has served me well and I don't intend to change my approach now.

For me, a fighting NUS means standing up, challenging power, and being seen to stand up for the interests of students, no matter whose cage gets rattled in the process. And it means not just doing it nationally, but empowering every officer, every activist and every student to do it too.

We live in a society where some students still live in poverty and appalling accommodation. We live in a world where student workers are denied key rights becuase they are viewed as temporary and dispensable. We live in an education environment Where unscrupulous Vice Chancellors close down courses because it is quicker, cheaper and easier to close down than to tackle the policies of the Government through their own organisation. So fighting back is not a permanent call to arms, or a programme of endless unfocused demos and occupations. No, fighting back means never letting an injustice in education- or wider society- go by without challenging it,

I know that locally you often have to be more subtle, but nationally I am not interested in being loved by Vice Chancellors or ministers. Instead, I aim to gain respect, and will do, as they and others grow to understand: NUS puts students first no matter who stands in the way

But however good our message is it won't be heard unless we get it out there. That’s why we’re rebuilding a campaigning NUS. Students need a voice in the wider community and the wider world. NUS has a fine campaigning tradition. And it has been at its best when we have linked our members' educational concerns with wider social issues.

I want the voice of all students to be HEARD - loud and clear - once more.

So we will be campaigning on the issues that matter - campaigning in Parliament, in Europe, in the council chambers, in the media and out there most importantly at the grassroots engaging our students.

Their education is the single biggest concern for our members. They want a good education- that treats them like more than mere economic agents for wealth, allowing them to reach their potential and make their way in the world. That is why we have to continue to pressurise government until we secure it for all who can benefit from it.

But political apathy- and a sense of disconnection from the wider world- is another big issue for them too. My apparent opponents on the left are right to say that there are big social movements and student activists out there that are abandoning students’ unions and NUS as a place to go to change the world. And I know there are those in this movement- in this room- that have in the past rejected the activist model for students’ unions. Running efficient leisure centres or committee based representative services is easier, cheaper, and cleaner. But whilst social activity, personal development and being a representative is important- it’s no match for the enthusiasm, commitment and radicalism of a student activist.

That means student officers that have the space and time to take action- to create a movement where those who want to change things believe they can do it by taking on a position of leadership and power in a students’ union. I want me and my officers across the country not just to do a good and efficient job but to take on political leadership and help rebuild faith in politics in Britain.

And that means campaigning- my vision of campaigning for NUS is one based on the greatest resource we have - tens of thousands of student activists and their officer leaders who can and must be mobilised behind the objectives their union and NUS sets itself. That’s why we’re investing in an activist strategy- helping you to build activists and helping the student movement to become the empowering clearing house for any student that wants to change things.

To achieve all this we need a bigger, growing student movement. I pay tribute to the many officers and staff members who this year have paid their affiliation fee- on time and in full. I pay tribute to those that have put such effort into winning and securing new resources for their unions and squeezing every pip from their commercial services. And I pay tribute to those, like BUGS, who have taken student activism seriously and have embedded throughout the union engaging students, officers and union staff alike.

But now need a new approach, new energy, new vision and resources at the front line, coupled with real commitment from the very top of NUS to grow the student movement. We need NUS Extra- and we need you to help make it happen. Put simply, it is time to kiss goodbye to the cutback culture. It is time to take the initiative, a difficult decision though it may have been and live up to our responsibility to find a way of funding the students movement and to refocus our resources to support our members in their colleges. Since my arrival in the student movement I have heard that NUS fails to deliver locally on local issues, and I commit to you that ends here and that ends now. Our ambitious vision, for developing and supporting unions locally can only happen with resources generated by NUS Extra, can only happen because you highlighted its importance, and will only happen because there is the political drive and leadership to make sure it happens.

We are now gearing up for growth. We’re taking on new staff out in regions to help build our organising and activist strategies. We’re investing in new technology, helping officers and activists to network, to share experiences and to build better practice. And we’re prioritising Further Education for development- ringfencing resources from NUS Extra and winning new money from Government to give real opportunities to the FE sector.

I meant it in Blackpool when I said that the era of NUS as the national union of Higher Education students is over. The work done on FE over the last two years has been amazing and we will take it further. While the Government failed to take advantage of the Tomlinson report, they have at least listened to what Andrew Foster had to say.

amplifying the voice of students in FE will remain a clear political priority for NUS. We must ensure the white papers implementation and we must call for more…

• 2 student governors- a minimum

• Robust student rep systems- a requirement

• Extending EMA’s- a clear demand

• And ending the scandal of under funding in FE- a real priority.

Our work in FE isn’t just about tokenism- it matters to us as a whole. It’s deeply symbolic. Students in FE are second chance learners and often those at the bottom of the demographic heap. If we can get good as a movement at empowering those for whom educational opportunity matters the most, we can do it for anyone- and we’ll have built NUS for the coming century and for the whole of our diversity

But it’s not just about their education. We all know that students are workers too- today their challenges are differential pay rates and health and safety; tomorrow they are pensions, mortgages and working time. Our new strategy- for a long, lasting and deep partnership with the trade union movement- not only gives us an opportunity to learn from new methods of organising and activism, but gives them a chance to grow their membership base. And whilst that might be a challenging agenda, for every 100 unionised bar staff in a students union “causing trouble”, there’s ten thousand students that need the support and protection of the trade union movement out in other bars, shops and service sectors.

But despite all of the talk about campaigning and activists’ I do also want an effective NUS and an educational and representative NUS. We can do more and must do more to support officers to understand and impact upon the educational environment in which they now operate. We’re beefing up our research and policy units to deliver real research into student lives and real resources to officers to make lasting change on local campus issues.

We can do more and must do more to make NUS open, accountable and transparent. Through the strategic plan I’ve ordered a complete stripping down and starting again of our financial procedures to empower officers and NEC members to direct resources to where they matter most and strip out unnecessary costs.

And whilst we can and will do more to recognise and support our diverse officers and their multi faceted, complex role, through networking and opt in groups of like minded officers, forgive me if NUS starts to put a real focus on education and the educational experience. I’ve got the best student political leadership on education elected in Blackpool that I could possibly have- Wes Streeting and, according to the Guardian, our “secret weapon” Ellie Russell helping me lead our refocusing on educational experience and opportunity and I hope you’ll be encouraging your officers to do the same. I certainly hope that those unions that have 5 or six sabbs but only one doing education & welfare work will look again at their structures and focus out on the needs and aspirations of their members rather than the needs and aspirations of the union as an organisation.

But let me say finally that whilst NUS will prioritise around campaigning, representation, education, and welfare, some of my opponents say it is all right for students’ unions to deal with educational matters, but that it is almost an impertinence to speak about politics. I say that is a false division. I’ll say it out loud- I want a political progressive NUS.

NUS has been involved in politics for years, and will always be so. That is for three good reasons. First, so many of the problems students face in education can be made better - or worse - by what is done or not done in Parliament. Second, most students have a collective vision not just of better educational lives, but also of better lives in their communities and around the world. The reality is that too many students of this country feel disappointment in this government. Yes, we’ll acknowledge the many good things that Labour have achieved - the minimum wage, investing in FE, family-friendly improvements, dramatic changes to equality and investment in public services. But we’ll condemn them when they’ve got it wrong- by consumerising and marketising education in this country.

But the third reason is where I’ll focus and end my speech to you today. Yes, we must prove our worth, improve our Governance, drive out poor practice and focus down on our mission. Yes, we must think smarter and harder than ever before about how we serve students, develop students and represent them effectively. But we must also ensure that students- in their local union, through their local union and through their national union can still get involved and deliver change. That means a political movement, an activist movement, and a fighting movement. It means by students as well as for students. It means big ticket issues as well as being the umbrella for any student wanting to take action. It means that winning on coca cola at Conference was just as important to me as it being on the agenda to start with. Above all, it means accepting, developing and celebrating the infinite power that students have to make those of us in power feel challenged & uncomfortable. I hope- at least for part of my speech- I’ve done my job and done that to you to day.

Thank you.

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