Monday 24th October

The week started off with a trip to Reading to campaign in their referendum on affiliation. It was a suitably cold day ideal for standing outside talking to students. In their own way affiliation campaigns are quite pleasant, as they are a chance to big up NUS and put out there the messages about all the really positive things we do and achievements we make. I’m glad to say Reading said Yes to NUS so well done to everyone who partook in the campaign.

That afternoon it was off to the Home Office to work on our crime prevention partnership toolkit we are producing together. We are working closely and constructively with the crime reduction unit at the Home Office this year which I believe is of mutual benefit. I got excited when I stepped off the train at Kings Cross last night and saw one of our joint co-branded posters on the platform!

Tuesday to Thursday I had-shock horror- 3 days annual leave and a delightful trip to Dublin with my Mum. It was really good to rewind for a few days and remind myself that none of us are dispensable!

Friday, I attended the NUS/UUK bilateral meeting along with Julian, Kat and several members of staff. I took the lead on the discussion on the International Student Right to Appeal item, and the Code of Standards for Halls of Residences. On the first issue we are already working together and this is obviously very important- on the second issue however there is some contention, as we have some major concerns over the UUK code of standards and reflected this in the NUS response to the government consultation. To give some background, the Housing Act 2004 brought in licensing for Houses of Multiple Occupancy (over 5 people AND over 3 floors), but university owned halls of residence were exempted from this as universities were regarded as being ‘responsible landlords’. (Something I would not necessarily assume!). However following lobbying by NUS the government agreed to introduce a code of standards for Universities UK. 2 are now up for consideration and were recently put out to consultation- an ANUK code (which NUS contributed to and favours) and a UUK code, which lacks benchmarks, expects universities to regulate themselves and makes no consideration for FE institutions and the housing rights of their students. I voiced my concerns with UUK and am hopefully joining their working group now but I’m not sure we’ll be reaching consensus on this at the moment.

On Saturday I thankfully managed to open HQ without setting any alarms off and hosted the Mature Students Committee meeting there. Thanks to the committee for all the long journeys they made, I think everyone was satisfied with the meeting and the work we are going to start undertaking. In the afternoon we had committee training which was very useful in terms of focusing us around the issues and our priorities for the year. That night I went to Kat and Sian’s Halloween party and before someone else puts it on their blog as a wicked whisper, yes I was the member of the NEC who took a tumble down the stairs, brought the party to a standstill and woke up the next day covered in bruises. And no, it wasn’t all about the welfare in that instance!

On Sunday I went to Central Synagogue to prepare for my trip to Auswitcz with the Holocaust Educational Trust, which I will be blogging about separately. It was a such a useful day in terms of preparation. We met the other people in our groups and were addressed by Auswitcz survivor Kitty Hart which was incredibly powerful and a big help in preparing for the trip.

Monday- Thursday it was off to regional conferences, which I approached with a mixture of anticipation, fear and excitement. I was on the West stream, and at London, Bristol, Coventry and Liverpool. They were my first regional conferences on the NEC and for the most part I really enjoyed them- yes they were hard work, and draining but also a good indicator of how our work is being received. At SW regional conference I was lead officer which was quite exciting but I was more than happy to relinquish the power back to Kat on Wednesday! Also good to be back at my old union Liverpool ‘The’ Guild on Thursday.

Friday I sat on the interview panel for the campaigns officer. On Saturday I was at Greenwich talking to their course reps about the importance of representation and NUS.

On Monday I had a day in the office and the chance to start catching up on some emails, sort out MSNC expenses, and clear my desk, which took some time. I also did some follow up work from regional conferences, emailing officers from the welfare and student rights policy commissions on the west side, to help facilitate some local policy writing. On Monday evening I went to a One Voice presentation at Westminster which was very informative.

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