Tuesday 04-10-2022 - 16:55

NUS Charity is pleased to publish a report jointly funded with Guild HE that has provided some in-depth research in collaboration with six small HE SUs, looking at all aspects of the governance and structure of those organisations. 

NUS Vice President Higher Education Chloe Field commented:

"I’m so proud that NUS Charity has commissioned this report in collaboration with Guild HE. Supporting small students’ unions and associations in governance across the UK is our bread and butter. And giving them the tools to establish strong structures is the key to creating an exceptional movement."

The key findings of the report were:

• The status of students’ unions is often unclear in smaller unions. This lack of clarity raises risks on oversight, accountability and financial decision making.
• Union/ university relationships are often based on informal structures which, whilst helpful, are often not sufficiently resilient.
• Genuine student engagement practices, that is to say the amplification of student voice, was seen as an area of strategic importance for trustee boards requiring significant improvement if unions are able to harness their ability to support change in student experience.
• Diversity of student representatives (and therefore diversity of trustee boards) is a challenge due to the small pool from which to recruit and there can also be particular challenges resulting from the demographics of the student body as a product of their geography or industry. Unions wish to be diverse and representative but this can be a struggle using conventional resources.
• There are unions where advice or representation is described as independent but in practice is under the same systems as the institution, which could cause issues during complaints processes.
• Scarcity of resources can drive innovation; it also can drive a reliance on minimising cost rather than a broader balance of cost and opportunity. Ensuring a well-resourced union is likely to drive substantive improvements in the student experience.

Read the report here. 

NUS will continue to work with GuildHE in the creation of resources to support governance work for smaller SUs going forward. 

Want to be involved?

Small SUs are invited to a roundtable on the 28th November at the University of Law in Birmingham to discuss the resources that can come out of this project, offering SUs practical solutions to the barriers that have been highlighted.  We would love to see staff and officers there - you can register here.