The great thing about the summer months for me is that I can down tools in the hot, sticky and somewhat unstable NUS Headquarters and go off into the towns and cities to meet you…the members of NUS.

We’ve had a busy few weeks, but to actually get the chance to talk about our policies, answer officer’s questions and get to know you is fantastic. “Action through Advocacy” is the National Training event for education, welfare and support officers. I have to say it’s come a long way since I was an officer a few years ago.

It was pitched at a much higher level than previous incarnates of the course. With workshop sessions on student complaints and student feedback to setting up robust rep systems and liberation. The feedback was amazing and I speak for Veronica and myself when I say that we thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone their, exploring priorities and expections and generally socialising.

The next one is in Preston at UCLAN 15th – 18th August ….BRING IT ON!!!

Friday was spent catching up with those pesky emails and planning the work on the Education Strategy for the year. We also had a useful meeting to plan the Priority Campaigns, we established some of the key aims of the campaign and talked through some of the vital messages we want to get out about the campaign and NUS current policy.

Monday August 1st

Well well well…another week and loads to be getting on with. I met with Tish Bourke from the Europe Unit part of Universities UK (the Vice Chancellors group). She and I talked about how we could work together and promote all the new and ongoing work that’s going on in Europe especially around matters such as the ‘Bologna Process’.

I was explaining that all too often we talk about things in language which is complicated and takes the focus off the core issue. For example, the Bologna Process aims to aid student mobility around Europe. To meet the criteria laid down by the process some quite significant changes need to take place and I feel that we should look closely at the impact of these changes in terms of their effect on the student experience. If you would like any clarification of the Bologna Process please email me.

Tuesday August 2nd

Today I co-chaired the Equal Opportunities task force meeting with my very good friend Veronica King (VP Welfare). It was the first meeting of the year and we talked generally about the purpose of the group and its remit. For me it’s crucial that we meet but only if we actually achieve something.

The meeting discussed some really important changes to government policy specifically around the Single Equalities Commission and the affects that it will have on the direction of our campaigns.

Later I chaired my first Education Task Force Meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to direct policy on Education in NUS. We have very broad policy on Education but have little in the way of the detail.

Wednesday August 3

This morning I went to Universities UK for a ‘Technical Press Briefing’. This was to clarify some of the more technical points about the implementation of the new funding regime from 2006. Our own press office is regularly getting calls from press about the regime and the implications. Today was about clearing up some of the confusion.

It was interesting to see how confused people still are about the new system and I have major concerns, not only about the overall principle of a free market in education, but about the complete confusion that it will cause to those thinking about going to university. I will be keeping a close eye over the coming week to see how this issue will be resolved.

I asked a question to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) about their leniency with regards to institutions that change their access agreements. The representative replied that institutions can change their bursary scheme or course charges to either be of greater support for students or in fact in some cases reduced support. There is ultimately no cut off date for institutions to change their access agreements, so this could mean that during ‘clearing’ there could be a price war between institutions. I think that OFFA must have greater powers to demand that prospective students have the support they need.

NUS is still campaigning for Free Education. No Fees, No Top-up Fees and a living grant for all.

The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students.

All links in blogs will open in a new browser window.

The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/juliannicholds/271177.aspx