National Union of Students (United Kingdom)
The National Union of Students is a confederation of student unions across the United Kingdom. Approximately 600 student unions are affiliated, accounting for more than 95% of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Although the National Union of Students is the central organization for all affiliated unions in the UK, there are also the devolved national sub-bodies: NUS Scotland in Scotland, NUS Wales in Wales and NUS-USI in Northern Ireland.
NUS is a member of the European Students' Union.
Membership
- Constituent membership is granted to students' unions by National Conference or National Executive Council by a two-thirds majority vote
- Individual membership is granted automatically to members of students' unions with constituent membership, sabbatical officers of constituent members, members of the National Executive Council and sabbatical conveners of NUS Areas
- Associate membership is granted by a two-thirds majority vote of National Executive Council to:
- * Student Organisations in Association – any national student organisations
- * Partner Organisations in Association - non-student organisations which sympathise with the NUS
- * Individuals in Association – any individual who supports the objects of the NUS
- * NUS Areas - geographically defined associations of students' unions
- Honorary membership is granted by National Conference to "any person or organisation as it sees fit"
History
Origins and early history
The NUS was formed on 10 February 1922 at a meeting held at the University of London. At this meeting, the Inter-Varsity Association and the International Students Bureau agreed to merge.Founding members included the unions of University of Birmingham, Birkbeck, University of London, London School of Economics, Imperial College, King's College London and the University of Bristol.
Politicisation and Broad Left, 1968–1982
In the aftermath of the First World War in its founding constitution, the National Union of Students had adopted from the outset a "non political" clause in its charter in an attempt to distance itself from the reasons that the War had broken out. It had thus concerned itself with student interaction and cheap travel, student grants and student interests.This apolitical consensus was challenged in concert with the international protests of 1968 and as the Cold War intensified. At the 1969 NUS conference, then president Trevor Fisk came up against Jack Straw over the issue. Straw supported student protests against US military involvement in the Vietnam War, while Fisk advocated neutrality; Straw's side won and the "no politics" clause was removed.
A new era began for the NUS, where political agitation and protest became institutionalized. Straw was followed up as president by Digby Jacks, also representing the Radical Student Alliance and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. According to contemporary British government reports, the RSA was connected to the Trotskyist-led Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and had close links with the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund. The government report stated "If they have an ideological bible it consists of the work of Professor Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man." In line with the Marcusian viewpoint of championing politicised minority groups, throughout the 1970s, the NUS came to support what it called "liberation campaigns", including; homosexual rights, radical feminism and black nationalism. At the same time, the NUS adopted a No Platform policy; a concept pioneered by the IMG in 1972; to stifle the campus organisation and speech of nationalistic British groups that it declared to be "racist or fascist". At the time, this was aimed at the National Front and the Monday Club.
The union was also involved in affairs in Northern Ireland, where most higher education establishments there were members of both the NUS and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn, though this differed from case to case. Indeed, two presidents of the NUS earlier on in the 1960s were from The Queen's University of Belfast ; T. William Savage and T. Geoff Martin. The 1968–69 unrest in Northern Ireland saw the onset of The Troubles and a sectarian divisiveness come to the fore. After members of the QUBSU organised a protest against the hardline Unionist politician Bill Craig, the then Minister of Home Affairs, some members such as Bernadette Devlin, Eamonn McCann and Michael Farrell decided to found the Trotskyist group People's Democracy in 1968, which played a role in the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. Following a meeting in Galway in 1972, to combat divisions, it was agreed that a group called the NUS-USI would be founded with dual-membership to cover Northern Ireland.
One of the NUS' protest campaigns which was of particular significance during the 1970s and the 1980s was the boycott campaign against National Party governed South Africa as part of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. In 1970, NUS vice president Tony Klug visited South Africa and met with Steve Biko of the SASO among others. Members also attempted to disrupt South African rugby and cricket matches in the United Kingdom during the 1970s. In the 1980s, the NUS played a significant role in getting Barclay's Bank to divest from South Africa, attacking it as "Boerclay Bank".
Throughout this period, the NUS presidency was dominated by the Broad Left, within which the Communist Party of Great Britain predominated and usually supplied the president, but were backed up by Labour and the Liberals. They did so to work as a voting bloc against both the Conservatives and Militant. The first of these Broad Left presidents was Charles Clarke who as a member of the Clause Four Group, won the National Organisation of Labour Students back from Militant influence. Other presidents included Sue Slipman, Trevor Phillips and David Aaronovitch.
Labour Students presidency, 1982–2000
From 1982 with the election of Neil Stewart, until Andrew Pakes stood down in 2000, the presidency of the National Union of Students was controlled by the National Organisation of Labour Students, which shortened its name to Labour Students in 1994. Notable NUS Presidents of this period included Phil Woolas, Maeve Sherlock and Stephen Twigg.In 1989 activist, journalist and community activisit Andrea Enisuoh was the first Black woman to be elected to the Executive Committee.
History in the 21st century
Fairtrade
The campaign has since been extended into Students Organising for Sustainability, an educational charity responding to the climate emergency and ecological crisis.The Fairtrade Foundation collaborated with the NUS in awarding The Fairtrade Universities and Colleges Award, which started as a pilot in 2017. As of 2020, twelve universities had achieved Fairtrade status.
Education finance
Under the leadership of Wes Streeting the NUS abandoned its long-standing commitment to free education and backed a graduate tax as its preferred outcome of the Browne Review into higher education funding. Before the 2010 General Election, the NUS invited candidates to sign a pledge not to raise tuition fees, receiving over 1000 signatories from prospective parliamentary candidates. This became a very high-profile campaign when many Liberal Democrat MPs, who all signed individual NUS pledges stating they would vote against any rise in tuition fees if elected, had to abstain or do the opposite as part of their coalition agreement.The NUS, under new leader Aaron Porter, organised a national protest attended by thousands in November 2010, demanding an end to education cuts. The march route passed Whitehall and the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank Tower. As they marched past the building, some protesters diverted in to the courtyard of Millbank Tower and began an occupation of the building.
With an attendance of over 50,000 people, it was the largest British demonstration since the Iraq War protest. This led to various more demos until the rise in tuition fees was passed.
The day before the vote to allow a rise in tuition fees, the Daily Telegraph reported that they had seen emails that suggested Aaron Porter had supported, rather than increase tuition fees, cuts of up to 80% should be made to student support packages including grants and loans. Porter responded to the claims on NUS Connect that "In all of these meetings and communications we stated our firm and clear opposition to cuts" and that the distortion of the discussions was "political desperation from a coalition government losing the arguments on its own policies".
On 9 April 2014 the National Union of Students passed policy at its national conference to reverse its position on education funding. The call for a graduate tax was abandoned in favour of calls for free education funded through progressive taxation.