NUS Regional - Warwick

The last NUS Regional of the Academic Year occured last Tuesday (13th May) at Warwick Students' Union (pictured left). I'm a delegate for our Guild so I hopped on a train with Naush, Laura and Stu Brown and headed out for a day of democratic splendour.

The Regional was more interesting than usual. We discussed the two very predictable but major areas: NUS Governance and the Education Funding Campaign.

1) NUS Governance - incase you didn't know, here is the history on this issue. The NUS have been trying to undergo a Governance Review this past year - the same as we have been doing through the Referendum and now our current bye-law overhaul.

Unfortunately, the Governance Review failed at Annual Conference (by just twenty-six votes!) on April 1st and now the NUS are stuck with their rubbish, ineffective old structures for another long year. So the NUS are looking at how they can better-explain and adapt their Review so that it doesn't fail a second time.

The NUS have been quite good and have gathered feedback from Conference, so at least they don't have to go back to the drawing board on this one. As President-Elect Wes Streeting said: "We don't have to throw the baby out of the bathwater."

Here is a list of criticisms the original Governance Review has received:-

• Some thought that the new model restricted NUS' campaign works.
• Others didn't like the idea of reducing the length of Conference to make it more efficient.
• People argued that the Trustee Board was not diverse enough because it lacked Liberation Officers.
• Some thought that the NUS asked students to approve too much in one go.
• Others simply didn't understand it or read the papers!
• People disagreed with certain new names, like Congress and Senate.
• And the list goes on and on!

However, I'm confident that the NUS can meet all of these concerns with rational and reasoned arguments. But if their stubborn opponents don't feel like listening, then the Review will fall again and again.

As for the way forward, it looks like there will be another Extraordinary Conference next year to discuss the Review. And because a Review of this magnitude requires the approval of two Conferences then rumour has it then there may even be a second Extraordinary Conference before Christmas. Manic!

2) Education Funding Campaign - this is the other Big One for the NUS next year. The 2009 review of top-up fee is almost upon us which will see Parliament review their decision to cap tuition fees at £3000 a year. If this review goes in favour of most Vice-Chancellors, then the cap will be lifted indefinately! This will mean that Universities can charge as much as they like for tutition fees (£5k, £10k, £15k) and consequently lead to the marketisation of Universities. This is real bad news for students.

The NUS are beginning this campaign by firstly lobbying the government and getting some answers from Bill Rammel. Wes and Bill are having discussions in Nottingham and London on the 2nd and 3rd June respectively which students can attend.

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Anyone excited about a National Demo can hold their horses for now, however. If the Demo happens, it will not be in the near future and students will have to wait until the end of 2009 if at all. Until then, this is a reasoned campaign about lobbying and debate.

Overall, this was an incredibly informative Regional.

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And Warwick's Union have an awesome Smoothie Bar! Bonus!