2004

Education Campaign

Higher Education Bill

• When the Higher Education Bill is published (on 8th January), NUS scrutinises its contents and issues a briefing on the analysis to all student officers. Pressure on MPs continues in January. 4,000 e-mails are sent from the SFN website in one week alone.

• A further mass lobby is held on the day of the second reading (27th January). 311 MPs vote against the bill – 316 for it. The Guardian front page describes it as “the biggest revolt on a three-line whip in over 50 years”!

• A week of local action, with a one-day shutdown of education, is widely supported as students and lecturers stand shoulder to shoulder in protest at plans to introduce variable top-up fees.

• As the third reading of the HE Bill is scheduled for the Wednesday of NUS Conference, NUS co-ordinates a mass transfer of 800 students from Blackpool to Westminster to lobby MPs on the day. Despite another sizeable rebellion, the vote is carried.

• The Higher Education Act 2004 receives Royal Assent on 1st July. NUS calls for the campaign against fees to continue.

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• NUS launches ‘Thinking it Through’, a guide to higher education produced by NUS and funded by the DfES.

• NUS is represented on the ‘Aim Higher’ committee, which considers widening-participation strategies.

• NUS responds to the Schwartz report on university admissions. Having previously replied to the original consultation and interim reports, NUS is pleased that some of its recommendations are included in the final report.

• When the Tomlinson Report is finally published, the Government does not seek responses and announces that a White Paper will follow. NUS welcomes the recommendations in the report, but warns that appropriate funding and resources must be made available in order for these to be effective.

• NUS submits an extensive response to the Government’s ‘National Skills Strategy’ document, and is also a member of the implementation group for the Adult Skills Strategy.

FE

• NUS responds to the DfES’ discussion document on FE sector governance.

• As the NUS priority campaigns for the new year are launched, further education students welcome the ‘Developing our Unions’ campaign – the first campaign committed to addressing the needs of FE students and their unions for over two decades.

• NUS’ work in the FE sector includes representation on the DfES/LSC (Learning and Skills Council) ‘Success for All’ working group, working closely with the post-16 Citizenship Unit at the DfES and maintaining a presence at every meeting of the LSC’s 14-16 Task Group.

• NUS responds to ‘Investing in Skills’, an LSC consultation paper, and to ‘Supporting young people to achieve : towards a new deal for skills’, a Government review of financial support for 16-19 year-olds.

• The ‘Developing our Unions’ campaign undertakes the most in-depth survey that NUS has ever conducted with FE unions with some 13% of FE constituent members.

• NUS launches its revised training for FE student governors; this includes a ‘toolkit’ to support the governor’s role and, for the first time, offers accreditation by the Open College Network.

International Students’ Campaign

• NUS establishes the International Students’ Campaign. At its first campaign conference, an African student is elected to the post of part-time International Students’ Officer on the NEC.

• NUS responds to the Home Office consultation paper, ‘Review of the charges for immigration applications’, a proposal to increase visa extension charges paid by international students.

Welfare Campaign

• NUS publishes the results of a survey conducted on ‘Access to healthcare by students’.

• NUS publishes a report on students’ unions’ experiences of private halls of residence.

• NUS works with Unipol to develop a national Code of Standards, to guarantee minimum standards of management in all private halls.

• The NUS Welfare Campaign (housing strand) is concerned with the situation on the privatisation of halls of residence. Its work includes liaising with student officers from Liverpool Guild and Plymouth University Union to develop a model for student representation in Unite halls; lobbying the DfES and the Universities Partnerships Programme (UPP) around issues over Jarvis halls and publishing the NUS ‘Late Delivery Action Pack’ to support unions through the process of late delivery.

• NUS works with Manchester Students’ Union and investigates the feasibility of student co-operative housing, with a view to developing a pilot scheme in the city.

• When the Housing Bill becomes the Housing Act in November, NUS celebrates successes when the Government includes three concessions that it had been lobbying for -–the introduction of a Tenancy Deposit Scheme; the inclusion of a definition of an HMO (house in multiple occupation); and a requirement that institutions must sign up to a recognised Code of Practice to keep their institution-owned halls exempt.

• NUS publishes a paper outlining its position on the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

• NUS responds to the Government’s consultation on ‘Licensing in the private rented sector’.

• Following many students experiencing problems with student loan applications, NUS holds a crisis meeting with the DfES and the Student Loans Company. Students’ unions are urged to lobby their institutions to follow contingency plans for coping with the problems. NUS calls for an investigation into why the situation occurred.

Black Students’ Campaign

• The NUS Black Students’ Campaign launches its campaign for every students’ union to have a black students’ officer.

• The NUS Black Students’ Campaign launches the first ever ‘Black Students’ Handbook’.

Disabled Students’ Campaign

• The NUS Students with Disabilities Campaign is successful in persuading the DfES Quality Assurance Group to involve students with disabilities in the auditing of assessment centres.

• The NUS Students with Disabilities Campaign publishes a briefing on the Disability Discrimination Act, Parts 2 & 3, and how these will impact on students’ unions.

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NUS Wales/UCM Cymru

• Students take to the streets of Cardiff, when the NUS National Demonstration is relocated to persuade the Welsh Assembly that top-up fees should not be contemplated in Wales. This is the largest student demonstration ever to take place in Wales, with the media reporting the participation of 5,000.

• NUS Wales secures a student representative on the Rees Group, which will examine the different models of HE and student funding.

NUS Scotland

• Pressure from NUS Scotland contributes to the introduction of Education Maintenance Allowances in Scotland, as a way of encouraging more young people to stay on in full-time education in schools and colleges.