What NUS does for you

At the moment we are currently electing Durham’s delegates to send off to NUS national conference: it will be their job to decide what the NUS will do in your name. Before we do this I thought it would be a good idea to tell you what NUS actually does for you.

Hopefully you have all worked out that the little NUS logo on your campus cards makes you eligible for student discounts at cinemas and other places; however the real work NUS does is to lobby the government on student issues. It would be very hard for student unions to do this on their own. I often find myself at odds with NUS politically; most of the people who get involved with the NUS are fairly left wing.

However, NUS has become far more reasonable recently. At the last national conference they took the unprecedented step of moving away from an unachievable objective of campaigning for free higher education for all.

Now they are focusing on pushing for a fair funding system that does not saddle students with huge graduation debts. This is the NUS Broke & Broken campaign that has so far been very successful in highlighting the countless flaws of the current loans and fees set up. They also campaign on important social issues such as climate change and ID cards.

They have opposed government plans to make it compulsory in the future to have an ID card to get a student loan. They also provide student unions with support and training, to help sabbatical officers like me out. I know the NUS is not perfect, but it is our national voice to the government which is why it is important you elect people you trust to represent all of us, this Easter in Blackpool.

Enjoy reading the rest of the paper; I am now off to play a game of STIs Top Trumps, they will be coming to a college near you soon!

Voting for NUS conference delegates will be online between the 1st and 5th December.