Why Affiliation to NUS is Important

NUS is a confederate association of around 600 students’ unions, representing the interests of over 7 million students. Around 95% of all students’ unions throughout the country are affiliated to NUS. These range from those based at small specialist colleges through to general further education colleges, large universities and higher education colleges.

That diversity of members is NUS’ strength. Collectively, students through their students’ unions invest in a national movement, able to assist individual students and students’ unions in taking control of their educational lives, campaigning to defend and improve their rights nationally.

Yet that diversity can also prove problematic. Such is the diversity of membership in NUS that it can be easy to see our differences when we are attacked by those who wish to undermine a strong national voice for students. Despite the high profile of debate and discussion in our movement, behind the scenes a huge range and breadth of work is undertaken on behalf of students and students’ unions that enables their development and growth. This briefing, whilst not avoiding the politics of NUS, seeks to outline the breadth of that work and the way in which it benefits all of the students in the UK.

Around 13 years ago, the Government was proposing to close down students’ unions as we know them and destroy a campaigning NUS - today we fight on, demanding a fair education system for all and an end to the market in education.

In addition, NUS provides an infrastructure that helps individual students’ unions to undertake their own work supported by the research it carries out, the training, advice and information it offers, the materials it produces and the documents it publishes. Effectively, it’s like getting an additional team of over 50 staff and 25 elected officers assisting your students and students’ union.

NUS policy is discussed and agreed democratically at NUS conferences, attended by members elected by students’ unions. The work carried out by NUS is directed within the framework of that policy, just as students’ unions act within the policy framework set by their own decision-making structures. Students’ unions are not compelled to take up NUS policy. In this sense, the power works from the bottom up, not from the top down.

By definition, collective debate and discussion at our conferences and around our policies is wide, open and heated. It leaves NUS open to attack, given the profile that conflict can play in our objectives. But ask yourself, how many other diverse national organisations still allow such open and honest debate? NUS is uniquely run by its student members and remains, despite its critics, fiercely democratic. Anyone with a will to organise, and an interest in how the world works for students, can find a place in the National Union.

On paper, everything should work very well indeed - NUS is a highly democratic organisation. A student raises an issue at a general meeting in their own union; that motion is debated and passed; it is then submitted for consideration at a national level and, if enough other students’ unions think the subject is worthy of wider consideration, it is discussed at National Conference - to which any student may stand for election. If agreed, national initiatives are put in place to take that issue further. NUS does not organise conferences for students to feel alienated, angry and frustrated. If NUS has a problem, then part of the responsibility lies with student officers and representatives who impose other agendas, who constantly attack NUS from within, and who sap the energy of those who believe that there needs to be a national organisation representing students’ interests. A quick glance at election materials at Conference reveal that even those who seek to lead the student movement regard NUS as a “farce” and “undemocratic”; in fact they mean that NUS Conference - the sovereign body - has come to a conclusion that does not satisfy this or that political perspective.

We all need to get out of the mindset that an organisation is not democratic if it does not do what we want every time. However, we accept that the current structure is not one that the students and the student leaders of today are comfortable with. We would place any disillusion with NUS in the context of a wider rejection of current political structures - and an almost irrational mistrust of “politicians” - any perceived problems we have go beyond our organisation. But, to maintain its credibility, NUS is happy to tackle criticisms with confidence - that is what collectivism is all about. Just as students’ unions need their members to participate and change them from within, so NUS needs its members to positively engage with a dialogue about change, rather than see members abandoning it.

Because, ultimately, anyone who believes in the benefits of a students' union can hardly find arguments against NUS. Many might ask questions about how far a students' union can represent so many students with such diverse views; how it can represent the distinctive types of students in different faculties; and there will always be those who rant about staff costs and bureaucracy. Such arguments can be, and are, levied against all students' unions. But they are not good reasons for opting out of your students' union. Neither are they good reasons for deciding not to affiliate to NUS.

If you are unhappy with the service you are getting from NUS, then do something about it. But, first of all, ask yourself - do you use the range of services that NUS offers? Or does that feeling of discontent stem from a perception of NUS that derives from those that seek to undermine everything NUS does? If you have a genuine complaint about an individual, then you can raise the issue with the National Secretary, using the complaints procedure. If the issue is about the day-to-day work of NUS, then a question can be asked of the National Executive Committee at Regional Conference, or ask your National Council representative to raise it in that forum. If the issue is about NUS policy, you can use the democratic process – and prepare a motion for National Conference. You can also address ‘formal questions’ to NEC members – via the National Secretary – to which you will receive a written reply.

Some people ask what “their union” gets from NUS, in the same way that some students ask what “they get” from their union. Issues about the cost of affiliating to NUS could be equally applied to the students’ union. Some will say that the money could be better spent on students. Continuing to support a students' union means that the university has less money to spend on educating students. Students can speak for themselves, so why not take the thousands of pounds spent each year on the students' union and give it back to the university to spend on funding departments? If students have a problem, they can deal with it themselves, can’t they? - or use the legal system. And why should the students' union be allowed to campaign on policies that some of their members disagree with?

But if you haven’t decided to opt out of your students' union, then the values you hold should also apply to NUS. By having a students' union you have a strong voice, a formal representative structure and the means of promoting students’ needs with the university. Every single one of the arguments about why a students' union is good for students explains why a national body is good for students' unions. A representative structure must exist, and NUS is more democratic than most because - whilst most students' unions complain about student apathy - participation at the national level is very high.

Ultimately, the real issue is one about rights. NUS believes that students have the right to a strong local union and a strong national union; and that both should be funded properly by institutions. The NUS affiliation fee represents a very small percentage of their funding for most higher education institutions, and any union that’s struggling should ask themselves why their institution may want to see a weaker NUS .….

The annual subscription that unions pay to NUS depends on the amount of funding they receive from their institution, and the number of students they represent. The affiliation fee is laid down in the constitution, and is only ever increased by inflation when the Finance Committee recommends such an increase to annual Conference. Fees can be anywhere between the minimum and maximum limits which are currently £250 and £52,531.25.

Whilst the affiliation fee can seem to be a very big amount, students’ unions that will be paying the higher-end range of fees will also be members of NUS Services Ltd (NUSSL), the commercial purchasing arm of NUS. NUSSL buys collectively to achieve lower prices and attract higher promotional spends from major companies to benefit your bars, coffee bars and shops. Notably, NUSSL is responsible for the national brewed products and wines and spirits deals – which as well as cheaper prices carry ‘retrospective discounts’ for your students’ union. The ‘retros’ earned by your union can equal – or even exceed – the amount of the NUS affiliation fee – making being a part of NUS effectively free.

Each union is sent a regular ‘benefits statement’ from NUSSL that illustrates the cash benefits of membership. In addition to this, NUSSL saves unions substantial staff time by carrying out negotiations with literally hundreds of suppliers, and by providing a central billing scheme, which reduce unions’ administrative costs. Why not ask your NUSSL Liaison Officer (NLO) for the latest benefit statement figures?

NUSSL, like NUS, is controlled by students, aided by staff volunteers, and any student from its member organisations can stand for election to its committees. NUSSL policy is set at the Annual General Meeting, which also approves all negotiated deals.

Affiliation to NUS is a large slice of a union’s budget (up to 12%) - but it is crucial that we retain a large, diverse representative body nationally for students in the UK. Few other countries still allow public money to fund a national union - and continued collective support of our work keeps NUS the biggest student organisation in the world.

Students need a national voice and lobbying and research on a national scale to ensure they are represented. Only your National Union can provide this collective voice, fighting for the rights of all its members across the UK. Nurses, teachers, farmers, the elderly and children all have national organisations to represent them, whether they be campaigning organisations or trade unions, and students certainly require the indispensable representation and support they obtain from membership of NUS. It is because of this representation and support that students’ unions in increasing numbers decide to be members of NUS.

In a world where collectivism is discouraged and individualised and consumerist services dominate, NUS remains a proud organisation - committed above all to improving the lives and experiences of students in the UK.