Hi there and welcome to Julian’s weblog. You can keep an eye what I have been up to by logging on regularly. My role is to make sure that Union Officers are supported in their roles. Among other things I have been busy helping Unions with campaign planning for the year ahead.

The Beginning

On the 1st July the NEC was responding to the Announcement that the Lords had passed the HE bill for Royal Assent. Top up fees were now a real part of the future of education. The brand new NEC had a bigger fight on their hands. This was the day that we agreed on our priority campaigns (NUS Priority campaign info)and made a commitment to go on fighting for free education for all.

NUS Convention

This is an annual event for new officers across the UK. It is a three day event this year held in Leeds to give you the opportunity to meet other Union officers from all over the country and participate in workshops, debates and networking opportunities. It also gives the new National Executive Committee a chance to get to know you and find out what you have planned for the year.

After Convention I returned to my own Union for my last few days as President of Coventry University Students’ Union. We had games in the local park for all at the Union, it was a great way to conclude three amazing years on the Coventry Executive.

NUS Summer Training

I spent a day at Support & Represent at Aston this week. Some members of the NEC were ill so I was asked to attend in their place. Unfortunately I was only able to spend a day there as the next day I was off to London to be present at another training event, Participate & Develop.

As usual we had the obligatory NUS Quiz and Karaoke. As always I was obliged to show off my unique singing talents to all delegates.

On Friday 13th August we had our regular NEC meeting in London, check out the minutes to the meeting here (minutes from NEC meeting).

Support & Represent in London

This was a great week, I met loads of officers who were enthusiastic about their new role at support and represent. The usual entertainment ensued and there was lots of fun to be had. I have myself been an Education & Welfare Officer and it was really good to speak with other officers about what campaigns they are running and the ideas that everyone has for the year.

This was also the week of the release of the A level results so I spent quite a bit of time calling Unions in case of any press coverage and requests for statements from the press.

On Friday that week we held our first Environmental Committee meeting. This took place at Aston Students’ Guild and was a fantastic first meeting. We met to discuss plans for the year, update each other on issues regarding ethics and the environment and planned communication with officers. The other campaign convenor and myself reflected and fed back on our meeting with Justice for Columbia (www.justiceforcolumbia.org) earlier in the week.

LGB Committee and York

The week started on Sunday with a trip to Sheffield for the LGB Committee (LGB webpage)meeting which was an opportunity to meet the newly elected committee and to plan for the year.

Then it was onto York for Participate and Develop. The officers at this event were brilliant. We had loads of late night chats about what NUS has in store for the coming year. Officers quizzed me about my role and about what NUS can do for them. Once again, we had more karaoke and another imaginative quiz by the rest of the NEC and another training week was complete.

QAA Day in London

I have also worked with Hannah, NUS VP Education at the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Day at the end of August. This event was held to support officers in writing their student submission to QAA and prepare for the audit visit to their institution.

September 1st

MY birthday! It started off with a visit to the dentist (thrilling). Then a night out with the officers from my own students’ union at Coventry and some friends from home.

West Midlands, Leeds and London

The week started out with a visit to Keele Union. The sabbs took me for lunch, we talked over what campaign they had planned for the year.

Later in the week I made my way up to Leeds and visited a couple of Unions to talk about the environmental issues, Campaigning and issues with Student Loans.

The next day saw the announcement of the Conservative Party plans for Higher Education funding. The morning was spent speaking with unions about the response to statement requests from the press, look at the NUS statement here (Press statement). Then off to Leeds University Union for an Aldwych Group meeting. Aldwych group is a meeting of the Russell Group Unions. I attended the meeting in place of Hannah Essex, NUS’ VP Education.

The following day was in London for a short conference on admissions testing in the HE sector. It was an interesting issue and it is something that officers need to be aware of. Please contact me if you would like to know more.

Ongoing work

I have also been busy preparing for the Environmental Conference that happens on the 27th October. It will be at Oxford Brookes Students’ Union and we will shortly be taking bookings. While preparing, I have been in touch with organisations such as People and Planet, Oxfam and Amnesty International to come and talk at the conference.

If you are interested in, or would like information about what I’ve been up to, email julian.nicholds@nus.org.uk

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