I’m sure many of you won’t be surprised when I say that October was one of the busiest I’ve had in years. While I haven’t been updating my personal blog much lately (for reasons that will become obvious) I did write over fifteen blogs for the priority campaign roadshow, which I’ve linked to below.

So, here’s what I’ve been up to since I last blogged my movements…

Labour Party Conference, Manchester – Sunday 23rd to Thursday 27th August

Naturally my favourite of the party conference season, but that didn’t make it any less knackering than the other ones I attended this year. Party conferences provide an opportunity to engage with a number of debates and speakers on the conference fringe as well as collaring people in the hotel bars and lobbies to get across key campaign messages.

I attended fringes and events organised by (in no particular order) UCU, NUT, Amicus, Labour Friends of Israel, Labour Students, Young Labour, European Commission, Holocaust Educational Trust, Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Christian Socialist Movement, Stonewall, CRE, Foreign Policy Centre, NIACE, Compass and Progress. I also went to a number of the regional receptions (off the top of my head… Essex, Scotland, Northern) which are often handy ways of ‘bumping into’ ministers and influential MPs to raise issues. I also attended the Conference’s Education & Skills Policy Commission, watched some of the big speeches on conference floor, watched the Education and Health polocy debate and met Bill Rammell with Richard Angell to present a proposal for the ‘Ticket to HE’ project that Richard has been working on (and can be found in the priority campaign.

Congratulations must also go to the North West unions for organising a fantastic demo on fees outside the conference zone and to Gemma and Veronica for strong performances on the conference fringe.

Conservative Party Conference, Bournemouth – Monday 2nd/Tues 3rd October

Last year I complained about the fact that NUS had failed to send anyone to Conservative Conference for the past couple of years. While they’re not my cup of tea, they are the official opposition and we shouldn’t just spend time talking to parties and/or MPs that we like.

I was rewarded by being sent as the sole NEC observer to the conference. It was an extraordinary experience in so many ways and thankfully I did find some friendly faces to knock around with in the evening from NGOs etc (including many former NEC members!). We had scheduled some meetings in advance, but a couple fell through, leaving me to meet Shadow Skills Minister John Hayes. It was a useful meeting and has provided openings for us to feed into their FE policy review.

I also attended fringes and events on the Monday evening.

Canterbury Christ Church Campaigns Launch – Tuesday 3rd

After a bit more time in Bournemouth on Monday morning, I set off for Canterbury for the Christ Church campaigns launch. Becci Heard is running some absolutely fantastic education campaigns this year, has pushed the demo brilliantly and generally worked her arse off with the Exec and so it was a pleasure to go and talk about the priority campaign. Ended up with a late finish though!

Kicking off the Admission Impossible Roadshow – Wednesday 4th

Early start. Really early. For the start of the Admission: Impossible Roadshow. I wrote a daily blog each day while Gemma did the driving. We started off in Sheffield and York and you can read about it here:

www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273158.aspx

Admission Impossible Roadshow – Thursday 5th

York and Leeds as the roadshow continues:

www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273159.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Friday 6th

Newcastle and Durham: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273160.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Monday 9th

Lancaster, Preston and Manchester: Around London, then Reading, then London again: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273237.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Tuesday 10th

Manchester to Liverpool: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273162.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Wednesday 11th

Liverpool then back to London: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273163.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Thursday 12th

Around London, then Reading, then London again: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273237.aspx

Coming up for air! – Friday 13th

After the first major leg of the tour, a welcome respite to have a look at my inbox (a disaster) and deal with urgent tasks.

Extremism on campus, meeting with Bill Rammell and an aborted roadshow attempt – Monday 16th

Not an ideal day by any stretch of the imagination. I plan to write a separate blog about some of the media debate about the muslim community.

Read more here: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273238.aspx

UUK/GuildHE/JISC Conference on Plagiarism – Tuesday 17th

I was delighted to speak at a major conference on tackling cheating, collusion and academic misconduct in Higher Education - a major issue for students’ unions right now and something I am hoping to prioritise in the Education Campaign beyond fees and funding.

I spoke alongside Baroness Deech, the Independent Adjudicator for HE as well as a number of other major speakers from across the sector. Boris Johnson appeared in the afternoon, having written a clumsy and short sighted piece in the Guardian that morning. He’s a really entertaining and funny speaker but I must admit to being slightly fed up with seeing him deliver keynote speeches on important issues as though he were delivering an after dinner speech. It’s becoming tiresome and I wish he would take his audiences and his issues more seriously.

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Wednesday 18th

Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wolverhampton: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273239.aspx

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Thursday 19th

Birmingham and Coventry: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273240.aspx

OIA Board Meeting and AGM – Friday 20th

Attending the Board meeting and AGM of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) in my capacity as a Director. I consistently feedback issues raised by students’ unions so always feel free to get in touch about any aspect of its work.

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Monday 23rd

Plymouth: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273251.aspx

Annual Meeting with UUK and another chance to get some air – Tuesday 24th

Fairly early start for a pre-meeting with NUS staff and officers before heading over for the formal annual meeting we hold with the Chief Exec of UUK. Wide range of issues raised by me on fees review, access and admissions, student contracts and plagiarism. We also had a good discussion about extremism on campus, though I’ll leave Veronica to rant about the ongoing problems she’s had around housing work.

I should stress that while this meeting was an annual fixture, we meet regularly with Diana Warwick and other UUK officials throughout the year as issues arise.

After the meeting, Gemma and I had a chance to catch up on email and prepare for some upcoming speeches and events.

Quality Takes Time Event – Wednesday 25th

Held in great surroundings at Marble Arch Tower, our first Quality Takes Time event of the year provided a good introduction for student officers and staff to some of the latest issues in quality assurance and enhancement.

We had a great range of speakers and workshop, including Dame Sandra Burslem, who’s currently leading a major review around the quality assurance framework (see report and plan).

It also gave me the chance to highlight just how relevant quality assurance is to the every day needs, concerns and interests of students. Some of the language may sound quite dry and boring but the content certainly isn’t and effective engagement with some of the process can lead to substantial change and improvements to the student experience.

UUK Breakfast Seminar, Management Team, NSS meeting with HEFCE and Leicester Council… All in a day’s work! – Thursday 26th

Gemma and I attended the launch of a research paper by UUK at Parliament first thing in the morning, following by a meeting of the NUS Senior Management Team.

I had to duck out for a bit for a meeting at HEFCE’s London office with some student officers regarding the National Student Survey (NSS). I think we all got a lot out of it.

Gemma and I then drove up to Leicester where I spoke at their Council and we enjoyed a night out on the Leicester tiles! Massive thanks to the sabbs!

Admission: Impossible Roadshow – Sunday 27th

Just two days to the demo and a day in Nottingham: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273385.aspx

Bricking it about the demo – Saturday 28th

Saturday was largely spent sleeping until early afternoon, following by significant amounts of bricking it, speech writing, ring rounds and then spending the night at Gemma’s following the steward’s briefing for last minute preparations.

The NUS National Demonstration – Sunday 29th October

What can I say. Just the start of an active campaign to defend our education.

No to soaring levels of student debt.

No to the marketisation of education.

No to any attempt to lift the cap.

Yes to Free Education and Access For All.

That was October. Thank you: www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/admissionimpossible/273366.aspx

Wes

wes.streeting@nus.org.uk

07738477353

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