The Choice Facing the Student Movement
Students’ unions across the country are debating the future of the national student movement. The question is no longer simply how NUS should operate, but whether it can continue to function as a trusted national voice for students.
Different answers are now emerging.
Some believe the problems facing NUS are so deep that the organisation should simply be dismantled. If unions disaffiliate and walk away, something new can be built later.
Others believe the solution is for NUS to become a more openly political campaigning organisation, responding more forcefully to the issues students care about and taking stronger public positions.
Both perspectives emerge from genuine frustration with how the organisation has functioned in recent years.
But neither approach addresses the underlying problem.
The challenge facing NUS today is not simply what positions it takes. It is whether students and member unions can clearly see that national decisions are shaped by democratic mandates.
The student movement does not need to abandon its national union.
Nor does it need a national organisation driven primarily by political momentum.
What it needs is a national institution rebuilt on strong democratic foundations — where member unions set priorities, elected officers deliver on them, and students can clearly trace national decisions back to democratic processes.
That is the work I am standing to lead.