Democracy and Governance Day
New date and venue: 23 January 2008 | University of Leicester Students' Union
Book now - Registration costs £20 for all HE delegates and £10 for all FE delegates
Many students’ unions have been undertaking reviews of their governance arrangements in the last year, and many more are considering do so in the near future. These reviews represent an important opportunity to look again in detail at effectiveness of the way that our unions are led and managed, but they also expose age-old tensions.
Can we continuously debate union priorities and maintain clarity of purpose?
Are union members democratic citizens, or consumers of services, or both?
Is democracy a means to an end, or an end in itself?
The event
This event looks at the relationship between governance and democracy; it asks the questions above and explores many other underling issues. Above all, it is intended as an opportunity to consider whether preserving democracy has been given a high enough priority in the movement towards developing good governance in students’ unions, and what the best ways to achieve that might be.
During the day, delegates will:
- Be presented with competing views on the relationship between democracy and governance, and have an opportunity to advance the debate.
- Explore new research-led ideas on what might constitute a new code of ‘good governance’ in the students’ union context.
- Tackle key practical problems and dilemmas in improving and renewing democratic structures and systems, and in making existing ones work better.
- Examine case studies for how democracy was incorporated into the governance arrangements of some students’ unions that have already conducted a review.
- Discuss what the next steps should be in developing this work, and give feedback to NUS on how it might move the agenda forward.
Essential information
Democracy and Governance Day Agenda (UPDATED 8 January 2008) - please be prepared for minor changes to the agenda.Return to this campaign's homepage or view all articles in this campaign.