We’re delighted to announce the opening of registration for this year’s Lead and Change, our flagship summer training programme for officers.

Officers can gain core skills, knowledge and competencies that they need to succeed in their roles. Core networks will be created and sustained through training groups throughout the week with other officers who have shared or similar portfolios, sharing experiences and ideas to help them with their time in office.

Following the officer development programme review in 2014/15, all courses share the following key areas of learning:

1. Leadership

2. Understanding and Engaging your students/Liberation

3. Communication and Influencing skills

4. Building a network

5. Being an officer

6. Policy knowledge and political ideas

7. Working in a students’ union

Learning areas 1-4 will be delivered in a similar way across all of the courses and 5-7 will be geared towards the relevant portfolio. Content will be appropriate to the nations and liberation, equality and diversity will be embedded throughout. It is key that officers attend only one course over the Lead and Change summer training programme. For details on each agenda please visit the relevant information page.

Following the training programme, further learning will be delivered online using U Learn following the key areas of learning.

Key dates for Lead and Change are:

• Lead and Change Higher Education: Tuesday 18 July – Thursday 20 July, Leeds Beckett University
• Lead and Change Presidents 1: Tuesday 18 July – Thursday 20 July, Leeds Beckett University
• Lead and Change Student Opportunities: Tuesday 18 July – Thursday 20 July, Leeds Beckett University
• Lead and Change Welfare: Tuesday 1 August – Thursday 3 August, University of Nottingham
• Lead and Change Presidents 2: Tuesday 1 August – Thursday 3 August, University of Nottingham

Additional training located in the Nations:
All of the above courses are relevant to officers from the Nations, additionally NUS Scotland and NUS USI have a couple of other targeted courses on offer:

NUS Scotland
Lead & Change: College Student Representation. This two-day training residential, aimed at Presidents and Vice Presidents from college students’ associations in Scotland, will help officers to develop the skills, knowledge and values necessary to lead their students’ associations and deliver changes for their students.

NUS-USI
NUS-USI are working with USI to deliver SUT all Ireland training – this is due to take place in July. They are working with USI to confirm the details and will let you know as soon as possible.

The price of the courses covers the costs of running the course but does not cover the time that NUS staff and officers put in to developing the course content or delivering the training. This is gifted by NUS as a benefit of affiliation.

For more details contact Sam Harris, Learning and Development Consultant.