Mature Students’ Conference 2006 took place in Blackpool on the 24th and 25th of April this year. For some of us it was our second trip to Blackpool in under a month, and for others it was the first NUS national event they had attended. The Mature Students’ National Committee (MSNC) is convened by the NUS VP Welfare, and has five mature student members, elected at Mature Students’ Conference. One member of the part-time NEC also sits as an observer to the MSNC.

Conference included the launch of the Mature Students’ Charter of minimum rights, policy debate, workshops and committee elections.

The Mature Students’ Charter of minimum rights was launched by Andy Grant, the NUS National Director, who was himself a mature student. The charter states:

We believe that Mature Students should have:

• The right to have their life experiences positively accepted and acknowledged
• The right to learn free from discrimination
• The right to accessible and affordable childcare
• The right to an equivalent learning experience to other students
• The right to flexibility in learning and timetabling
• The right to access to adequate fundi8ng
• The right to peer group representation at local and national level
• The right to equal funding and loans regardless of age
• the right to be acknowledged as sexually active and entitled to active involvement in associated campaigns

We also launched a coffee morning in aid of Testicular Cancer charities, which it is hoped will be repeated on campuses throughout the country. The coffee morning was attended by Mo Moreland, a member of the Roly Polys, and Tracy Dawson, widow of Les Dawson. Both women now work to promote charities within the Blackpool area, and their attendance not only provided some light relief from the formalities of conference, but also attracted the attention of local media! Credit must go to Maria Hanson of the MSNC who put a huge amount of effort into organising the coffee morning, although I am led to believe that her offer to perform a check for testicular cancer was not taken up.

The Mature Students’ Conference this year passed the following policy (I’m only going to give you the resolves, as I don’t have all day to type the motions!).

Conference resolves:

• to raise the profile of mature students within the NUS through the introduction of a Mature Students’ Officer.
• To mandate the MSNC to fight for a part-time Mature Students’ Officer with voting rights within the NUS.
• To ensure that a motion goes to the next NUS National Conference to make the necessary changes to the NUS constitution in order to bring about the introduction of a Mature Students’ Officer.
• To investigate the pilot scheme [of 2 year degrees] with regards to mature students.
• For MSNC/NUS to take part in any related research.
• To publish the results to the mature student body and post on NUS website ‘officeronline’.
• For MSNC/NUS to campaign for funding for FE college mature students to allow FE college students’ unions to provide information and resources for mature students more readily both inside and outside of standard college hours.
• To support the AUT and NATFHE Unions.
• To call on students’ unions to support the lecturer’s unions.
• To lobby institutions and UUK/AOC to introduce opportunities for recycling.
• To produce a guide for mature students’ officers on involving mature students in environmental campaigns.
• To highlight what is common between the teachings of different religions.
• NUS through every students’ union should organise seminars and meetings.
• The MSNC will join together with the anti-racism campaign to promote interfaith and inter-age dialogue.
• To campaign for fairer funding for mature students.
• To make this a priority campaign for the MSNC over the next academic year 2006/07.
• To oppose cuts in adult education.
• To campaign against these [adult education courses] tuition fee increases.
• To make lowering the age at which students become independent a priority for the MSNC.
• To mandate the MSNC to lobby the NUS NEC to support mature students in this campaign.
• To mandate the MSNC to lobby student-friendly MPs to start an Early Day Motion calling for this.
• To mandate the MSNC to write to all relevant officers at students’ unions to urge their members to lobby their MP to sign the EDM.
• To support the first term national demonstration against top up fees.
• To mobilise mature students via existing networks to attend the demo.
• To mandate the incoming MSNC to attend the demo and to help build for it though existing means and through the website.
• To lobby the DfES to provide more provisions for part-time students.
• To mandate the MSNC to publish a briefing to students’ unions on supporting mature part-time students.
• To mandate the MSNC to investigate the Student Loans Company’s withholding of grants for part-time students.
• To mandate the MSNC to lobby for a rationalisation of the relevant grants application process to alleviate the burden on the constituent institutions.
• The MSNC will lobby educational institutions to cater for these special requirements of mature students [flexible facilities].
• To tell steering committee to rewrite the standing orders for the next Mature Students’ Conference.
• To mandate the MSNC to undertake a survey of childcare facilities, support for student carers and the existence of Mature Students’ Officers in every UK College and University by Mature Students’ Conference 2007.
• To then produce that information in report form to encourage Students’ Unions and Associations to offer facilities on campus for students with caring responsibilities and where appropriate provision for those in their care.
• To encourage every college and university to appoint a mature students’ officer.
• To mandate the MSNC to conduct a comprehensive survey of Mature Students and Students’ Unions, in order to better understand their needs.
• To work with all of the Liberation Campaigns in order to complete the survey.
• To specifically look at childcare provision and find out the number and location of all current Mature Students’ Officers and societies within FE/HE institutions.
• MSNC to lobby all FE and HE institutions to discover their own local discount deals, so MSNC can compare and collate in order to run national transport deals.
• MSNC to lobby NUS NEC to contact national and local transport companies for concessions for all students, regardless of age.

Conference this year discussed a total of 12 motions, and from the resolves above, I think it is apparent that the issues affecting the mature student body are diverse. The work involved in meeting all of the mandates set by this years conference will be immense, and I think can only add fuel to the fire in the campaign for a part-time mature students’ officer on the NUS NEC.

I want to say good luck to the incoming MSNC of Morag Maich, Matt Strong, Andy Mitchell, Elaine Ner and David Wilkinson, conference has set them a lot of work to do!

Finally I want to say well done to this year’s committee of Morag Maich, Angela Dunn, Kevin Morley and Maria Hanson, and of course their convenor, the NUS VP Welfare Veronica King for a very successful conference.

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