NUS have provided the following statement in favour of BCUSU remaining affiliated to NUS:
What is NUS?
NUS is the national voice of students, and our sole mission is to win for students. NUS UK brings together over 400 member students’ unions across the UK to campaign as a united national student movement.
Students created SUs to build collective power on our campuses, realising that we are stronger when we work together. SUs then created NUS to harness this power nationally and direct it to the government and decision makers. By being members of NUS UK, BCU students can contribute to the national student voice through feeding in your experiences and your priorities.
What does NUS campaign on?
NUS UK campaigns on the big issues impacting your time at university; from student poverty to housing, and from international students’ rights to transport.
Being a member of NUS is about working together. Together, over the past two years NUS have banned landlords from charging more than one month’s rent up front – and that’s because over 50 campuses came together to campaign for it, including BCU. The more of us there are, the more impact we can have. There’s strength in numbers.
We ensure that students are represented to government and the education sector. NUS run the All Party Parliamentary Group for Students, ensuring student voices are heard by MPs and decision makers.
What has NUS won for students recently?
Over the last year and a half, NUS UK have achieved:
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An extra £2.9m for BCU students, thanks to a raise in student maintenance
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The reintroduction of maintenance grants for low-income students
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Saved the Graduate Route Visa for international students
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3.1% increase to the maintenance loan
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Votes at 16 increasing electoral power for students and young people
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Student protections limiting early sign-on and rent up front in the Renters Rights Bill