By Sophie Lee, Third Year English
So it's been three years, and the University of Bristol is once again holding a referendum to decide whether we should reaffiliate with the National Union of Students (NUS). Each university gets the opportunity to decide whether they want to stay connected to the national organisation, with this being a once-per-degree change to make your voice heard on a national issue. We need 5 per cent of all students to vote for the result to be valid, so I am here to argue that we should remain affiliated with the NUS!
As a student, it's incredibly easy to forget (or not even realise) that we have a union. Like trade unions that support workers across various industries, the NUS is a collective of student unions across the UK. Around 600 student unions are currently signed up, giving the NUS the biggest student voice in UK society. The NUS website states ‘we believe that education should be accessible and enjoyable for all’, as they work on several campaigns aiming to improve and expand the student experience. People will tell you that the NUS does nothing, but that’s a hard case to make when they've worked on improving student housing, expanded routes for graduate visas, and campaigned to increase maintenance loans.
But, hang on a second. Why should you care? The student life can often seem like endless years of fun and partying, but at the end of the day, everyone (hopefully) walks out of here with a degree. There are countless headlines about the struggles that students face on a day-to-day basis, and the NUS can help make a change that actually means something. More than petitioning the SU for more soup in the Hawthorns (although I'm a huge fan of the newly reopened SU Hatch), being represented by a national union allows students to make national-level changes on issues that matter to us. If you care about improving the student experience, not only for yourself, but for countless students that follow, it's crucial to pay attention to the world around you. Whether that's rent increases, tuition fees, or the loneliness epidemic, the NUS is here to help. It’s important to stay connected to local political culture, so that when we start voting on bigger, more national issues (like the local elections coming up in May), we know how to inform ourselves.
‘As a student, it’s so important to use our voices to make sure we have representatives that reflect our wants and needs’
The NUS has been subject to controversies in recent years, with the UK Government severing all ties due to allegations of antisemitism. After an independent investigation was carried out, the NUS committed to implementing the recommendations of the investigation's report. Although any kind of discriminatory behaviour is clearly intolerable, it's encouraging to see a national organisation take criticism on board so readily, and be ready to learn and grow from these experiences. Having a national body that is able to accept its shortcomings is so important, and is another reason why we should reaffiliate with the NUS.
Amelie Patel
As a student, it's lovely to feel supported by the student community, both at uni and in the wider world. The NUS supports initiatives like TOTUM, which is a student-exclusive discount card (and who doesn’t love a discount card?), as well as environmental programmes such as Green Impact and Student Switch Off. The NUS has also achieved a 3.1 per cent increase to maintenance loans in England, £115m in extra university student hardship funding, and a 43 per cent increase to the apprentice minimum wage across the UK. Campaigning on national issues isn’t just relegated to student issues though - the campaign for votes at 16 has now been picked up by the Labour party, who have made an official press release saying that 16 year olds will be given the right to vote in all UK elections.
So, there you have your reasons as to why you should vote ‘YES’ in the NUS Reaffiliation Referendum. As a student, it's so important to use our voices to make sure we have representatives that reflect our wants and needs, and the NUS does exactly that.
Featured illustration: Epigram / Gina Nevin
Epigram will be hosting a debate on NUS affiliation on the 6th March in the Balloon Bar.
Voting will open from the 9th to the 12th March.
