Last week Lauren Marks (SU President), Naomi Cutler (SU Welfare Officer) and Oli Morton (Academic Representative) descended on Brighton to represent thousands of Aberystwyth University students as delegates at the year’s NUS National Conference.
Last week Lauren Marks (SU President), Naomi Cutler (SU Welfare Officer) and Oli Morton (Academic Representative) descended on Brighton to represent thousands of Aberystwyth University students as delegates at the year’s NUS National Conference.
This annual event which is the largest democratic gathering of students in the world passes policy and elects national student representatives for the year ahead.
Here is a quick round up of the highlights…
- Delegates elected the new leadership of National Union of Students who will all start their terms on 1st July 2017.
- The HE Bill passed through parliament, marking the end of two years of work from the student movement and securing key concessions.
- Mental Health took central stage with policies passed to explore the link between financial hardship, debt and mental health as well as challenge universities to evaluate the impact of their policies and rules on students with mental health issues.
- The Annual General Meeting (AGM) passed new reforms relating to corporate governance, democratic governance and membership contribution.
Lauren Marks had this to say about representing Aberystwyth students at a national level:
This year was a pivotal year for NUS, and I’m incredibly proud to have been chosen to represent Aberystwyth students at conference this year and be a part of major change. Your delegates voted on important national policy as well as the NUS democracy review, ensuring that the future of NUS and its priorities are right for and benefit the everyday student in Aber. It was a long and intense week of debate and discussion, but overall the week was a win for students across the country. It was also great to see some incredibly hardworking individuals elected to be our national officers, who will work with your AberSU officer team next year both nationally and locally, and I believe they are the right people to make NUS relevant to Aber students. Thank you to everyone who voted for delegates this year! Please feel free to contact me about how I engaged with the policy motions or with any questions you might have about NUS National Conference.
A full round-up of the highlights can be found by visiting:
www.nusconnect.org.uk/articles/national-conference-2017-the-highlights
Travel to and from the conference was kindly funded by a donation from the Aber Fund.