Following the huge success of the Big Welsh Weekend (many thanks to all who attended) things have been rather busy gearing up for the National Demo. After a recent UK NEC meeting I’m pleased to announce the decision for NUS UK to support the NUS Wales struggle against the marketisation of Welsh Higher Education. This is the first time NUS UK will be holding a demonstration of this size in solidarity with NUS Wales, and the first time for many demonstrators that they will have heard of the challenges we face in protecting and promoting Welsh medium teaching provision. All in all this is a fantastic opportunity for Wales, a chance for us to show the rest of the UK exactly how you stop the introduction of variable fees!

Unfortunately this development has also caused any number of logistical problems and has, essentially, rendered much of my work over the summer somewhat redundant. Be assured that I am working closely with NUS UK, in particular with the convenors of the Education, Education, Education campaign, to guarantee a fantastic event. I will keep you all posted as to future developments, although by now you should have received NUS Wales’ in-house demo-pack. More resources will follow from NUS HQ but there should be enough there to get you all started.

Although most of my time has been taken up with sorting out the education funding campaign demo, I have also attended a number of other meetings, notably with HEFCW and the QAA. I also attended the launch of the National Council for Graduate Enterprise in London, NEC meetings, college visits, Freshers’ Faires and President’s Committee meetings.

I have been working closely with the Devolution of Student Support Project Board communications team on developing an effective communication strategy for the proposed ‘Student Finance Wales’ – an umbrella brand for all student support in Wales. I have been sourcing student opinion to test the proposed identities, primarily with FE students.

I attended Labour Party Conference and spent the entire time either following Charles Clarke/Peter Hain/Jane Davidson/Rhodri Morgan and ensuring they were well aware of our opinion on variable fees, or networking with other national and international organisations to try and build up a database of allies and supporters.

I met with the Directors of the Open University in Wales regarding a joint submission to the Rees Group regarding variable fees, as well as developing some long term proposals for campaigning for part-time students.

Finally I have begun meeting with every AM to lobby them on variable fees. I have a meeting with Jane Davidson in the next two weeks and am furiously lobbying behind the scenes!

If you have any further questions then please feel free to email me on james.knight@nus-wales.org.uk

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