The NUS needs to Re-engage with its Members
The National Union of Students (NUS) appears as a separate institution to a regular student. Students don’t feel their membership, their union of people, they see a discount card – it goes no further. Is it any wonder when regular students who rarely care about the majority of issues discussed, have their voice withdrawn from the debate when an important issue arises?
You need only look as far as the latest scheme to be launched by the NUS. The funding blueprint proposes a scrapping of the tuition fee system and an introduction of a graduate ‘contribution’. Don’t let their slippery words detract from what they mean though, they mean a graduate tax that successful graduates will be paying on their income for the next 20 years. An earnings based tax which takes more from the most financially successful. The proposed system removes responsibility from people’s lives. No longer will students have to make a decision about whether university is for them; whether a degree is going to pay off in the end. It’ll be the natural progression from college. Finish your A-levels, go get a degree, and why not? The proposed system is a zero risk career path – you can’t lose, unless you happen to be successful, in which case you’ll be paying a small fortune for people to take degrees which are completely unsuitable for them. Higher education funding will inevitably turn into a bubble waiting to pop.
Who voted for their NUS delegate on this major issue? Not me sir, not in my name. I’m a politically active student and knew nothing of it so never had my chance to have the ultimate voice – in the ballot box. There’s a Facebook group against the proposals. We need a voice, a vote – if the elitists at the NUS are so confident that this blueprint is the will of the student body, then why not give us a referendum? It’s about time regular students took a stand and took back our union.
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