By Beds SU
Monday, 21 March 2022
Next week (28/29 March) the 5 students you selected to be your NUS delegates will be heading to Liverpool, for the National Union of Students annual National Conference.
At National Conference, students and officers from across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England will come together to focus on the next steps of NUS's New Vision for Education campaign, alongside building our #DecoloniseEducation campaign as well as discussing 6 new policy proposals.
Your NUS delegates are there to represent you they want to hear your opinions on the policies up for discussion so they can represent you effectively. below is an outline of the policies being discussed.
The policies:
The Postgraduate Student Loan System is not currently means-tested, meaning that access to postgraduate education is likely more difficult for those from poorer backgrounds. This policy aims to extend Hardship funds, introduce a living wage for apprentices and lobby for means testing of postgraduate loans to make higher education more financially accessible to all.
Making University Accessible To Students Of All Backgrounds
A Beds SU policy considering how we ensure that University is accessible to students from all backgrounds and that proposal to defund low-value courses doesn't affect students from non-traditional backgrounds.
This policy lobbies against the for-profit model of education (the lifting of tuition fee caps/student number caps) meaning that universities are now run like businesses that care more about profit than staff or students.
Tackling Gender-Based Violence
This policy lobbies against gender-based violence, including rape culture and public sexual harassment, and asks universities to promote awareness of the experiences of students - primarily women - facing sexual harassment, to provide better support networks for students who experience sexual harassment on campus, and to establish a clear and consistent zero-tolerance policy of sexual harassment in higher education institutions.
This policy lobbies against landlords exploiting students due to many having little to no experience of renting. As such, the policy envisions an alternative of Student Housing Cooperatives (democratic organisations which own housing, run for and by their members, whereby tenants own, run and manage their own accommodation).
The International Student Experience During And Post-Study
This policy aims to get universities to increase support for international students, via the likes of enhanced awareness and institutional accountability, greater integration in university communities, employability support and help with post-study work visas.
What to consider when leaving comments on policies:
Your delegates will be in discussion with other delegates from across the country, they would like to hear your comments on:
- Any wording in the policy you think might need changing
- Any parts of the policy that lack clarity
- Wether you have any personal experience that might help them express why the policy is important to students at Beds (& Nationally)
- Do you think there is anything else that you think needs adding to the policy?