National Union of Students in UK (NUS-UK) Campaign Examples

Reclaim your Voice The campaign took place in In the lead up to the May 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections. In 2010 the UK Westminster Parliament increased tuition fees from £3,000 to £9,000. The following year in the lead up to the Scottish Parliamentary elections NUS Scotland identified three priority areas: no fees protection of places improved student support.

Reclaim your Voice They wanted to hear politicians say these things and mean them (notoriously the Liberal Democrat members of the Coalition Government had reneged on their promise not to increase tuition fees). Across the country students’ associations contacted all the Parliamentary candidates to make their views known. This was backed up by a 4,000 strong march on the Scottish Parliament. Candidates were asked to sign a “commitment” to the key policies.

Results As a result of this pressure 87% of Members of the Scottish Parliament who were elected had made pledges to support all three principles. As a result, tuition fees were ruled out for Scottish students at Scottish Universities, college and university places were protected and a £7,000 minimum income for the poorest students was agreed.

The pig In 2015, the UK government cut financial maintenance grants which supported the poorest students, replacing them with loans. NUS UK took action by using an inflatable pig which toured campuses around the country to get the message out to students, alongside traditional methods such as petitions and social media actions.

Cut the costs The cut the costs was a broad anti- debt, anti-cuts campaign NUS UK did in 2015. It aimed to protest against unfair costs of transport and course costs for students. The campaign denounced the removal of financial support for healthcare students, and the removal of maintenance grants for the poorest students. Check-out the Campaign Briefing.

Liar Liar In 2015, NUS UK launched the “Liar Liar” campaign aiming to increase politicians’ accountability. The nationwide campaign demanded that MPs who broke the NUS 'Funding our Future' pledge in 2010 lose their seats. Over the course of three weeks, the spotlight was on  the 30 MPs who voted to increase fees in the form of billboards in London, Sheffield, and Manchester, huge ad vans targeting pledge breaker seats across the country, and national newspaper advertising.

#DEMO2012 In November 2012, #demo2012 campaign brought around 5,000 students to the streets of London to protest against tuition fees and youth unemployment. The campaign took place under the banner of ‘Educate, Employ, Empower’.and intended to allow unions to talk about issues their students cared about and to build activists for local and national campaigns in the short term, and in advance of the expected 2015 General Election. Over 100 students’ unions sent students to the demo, which equates to 19% of NUS’s constituent members.

The Parent Trap “Education is not just a child’s right” The campaign began in late 2008 following a crisis in the discretionary funds given out by colleges to student parents forcing many of them to drop out and not complete their studies. Led by the NUS Scotland Women’s Campaign “The Parent Trap” called for an increase in funding of childcare to meet demand and an end to the variations of support between different regions of Scotland. Thousands of supporters signed a petition calling for a fairer system of childcare funding.   With Scotland’s discretionary funding system , parents were prevented from embarking in higher education courses.

The Parent Trap - Results We called on the Scottish government to meet the demand on childcare funding for the year of 2009 as a matter of urgency. We also asked them to ensure that student parents studying in Scotland are not put at an unfair disadvantage in the future by making funding for childcare a right, not a privilege. The result was that an extra £2m of funding was released for student parents with child care commitments as a short term measure to meet demand along with a commitment for a Scottish Government Review into the current system of funding – with NUS Scotland’s demand of an “entitlement” as a part of the review. For more information, check-out the briefing.