One of my responsibilities within the Strong and Active Unions Zone Committee is to be one of the NEC representatives on the NUS Governance Review Steering Group. In this blog I will outline my involvement in the steering group and discuss where I hope to see this process take us. I also wish to identify some recent developments relevant to the Strong and Active Unions zone and how wider sector issues might impact on the student movement; discussing my views on some of the opportunities and challenges of the next year. To end, I will list duties I have carried out since my last blog.

To develop and champion strong students' unions

The second part of the newly developed NUS mission states that we exist to develop and champion strong students' unions. With this in mind, it seems appropriate to look at what issues might impact on this over the next year. Although the student movement faces some significant challenges, we can see a number of exciting opportunities and developments relevant to working towards this part of the mission. The Student Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI) recently received significant government funding that will enable students' unions to participate in this exciting and groundbreaking audit programme.

For more information see: www.sueinitiative.co.uk.

Developments within the zone have not been limited to audits and ‘strategic level’ capacity building. In a recently published report, Helena Kennedy QC (Chair of the Advisory Group on Campaigning and the Voluntary Sector) staked the claim for the legitimate right for charities to campaign ‘politically’. The Government wants charities to be able to campaign on ‘political’ issues, enabling the development of civil society in accessing and influencing decisions and engaging in the political process. In light of the 2006 Charities Act, this has to be seen as a very exciting development for students’ unions, with many soon to begin the legal status transition from ‘exempt charities’ to registering with the Charity Commission.

Such developments however, do not come without threat, particularly with the possibility that there could be a change in government over the next year (which would inevitably impact on this progressive agenda).

Many students’ unions are this year facing the complex challenge of reviewing and reforming their governance structures. NUS has demonstrated its capacity in supporting unions undergoing this process by providing guidance that would otherwise have proved costly to individual students' unions. Despite supporting students unions in reforming their governance structures, NUS has been slow to react to forces pushing NUS to review and reform its structures. That is until now. In ignoring the symptoms, for years NUS has neglected the root causes of the increasing financial deficit, lack of accountability, scrutiny, strategic planning and so on. In neglecting such a review, members of the NEC and others within the organisation have been left at significant risk.

In March of this year, Annual Conference mandated a review of NUS’ governance. Those who proposed the review insisted that for it to be a success, it would need to be a ‘root and branch’ evaluation of all aspects of our governance, analysing legal performance and conformance issues as well as ensuring our democratic structures are effective and accessible to the changing membership. In the following section, I will outline my experiences in this process to date and where I would hope this to take us.

NUS Governance Review:

The Green Paper and going forward

In addressing the financial situation NUS has come to find itself in, some have attributed the governance review directly to our finances. Although the financial situation has given us an impetus to act; limiting the causes of this review exclusively or even predominantly to this symptom would be to dismiss other significant contributing forces that led to overwhelming support for the passing of the Governance review motion.

The issue of governance must be addressed on a much deeper level. The Green Paper consultation document identified 5 ‘strands’ within which required specific consultation and analysis: conformance, performance, democracy, liberation and nations. Within these strands, Conference mandated this review to take place in line with certain values and principles (such as that liberation campaigns and nations must remain autonomous, an element to the review that is fundamental to ensuring the evaluation takes place within a framework that embraces the values from which the organisation has grown). If this review is to be both ‘root and branch’ and in line with our principles, then it is essential that the steering group leads a process of consultation that is extensive, transparent and engaging. Following the release of the Green Paper, many students’ unions, individual officers, staff members and political factions have fed into the review. At this time the feedback is being synthesised to fed back to the membership in the form of a ‘White Paper’, containing proposals and recommendations for further consultation.

Being on the Steering Committee is proving a very engaging, thought provoking and challenging opportunity. As well as having a diverse mix of student officers, the group consists of a number of external professionals including a representative of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), the TUC, SUEI and a number of students’ union general managers. As well as having attended all meetings to date, I was present at the Governance Review consultation in Belfast with the Convenor of NUS-USI and other NUS-USI student officers.

The consultation (NUS-USI) highlighted the need, amongst other issues, to review the bilateral agreement. The agreement constitutes the relationship between NUS UK, USI and NUS-USI. The bilateral agreement has not been review in any meaningful way since the 1970’s when the agreement was signed. The leadership of NUS-USI expressed their desire to have the freedom to govern themselves without external interference - as would be expected under the auspices of an autonomous nation. Steps are already being taken to review the bilateral, however, this issue highlights the need for this process and gives one example to the open, honest and overdue debates surrounding this review within NUS.

It is already clear that this debate has opened a whole host of issues that were, until now, simmering under the surface. Another issue to have come out of the consultations is the concerns that many students' unions share, around the legal status of the organisation and the liability this leaves on members of the NEC and staff within the organisation. Again, such debates are healthy and long overdue.

Summary: where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.

• Society and Citizenship campaigns convention coordination meetings (with Aegis Trust and Sudan Divestment UK), Wednesday 22nd August
• Train the Trainer, Officer Development Programme (North) August 28th, 29th and 30th
• NUS Governance Review Steering Group Meeting, August 31st
• National Executive Committee Meeting, Monday 3rd September
• Campaigns Convention- Society and Citizenship workshop, Tuesday 4th September
• UJS Delegation- Israel (Report to follow), Thursday 6th- Tuesday 11th September
• Union visits: Lancaster University Students' Union, Liverpool Hope Students' Union, and Liverpool Students' Union, Friday 14th September
• Day for Darfur National Demonstration- London, Sunday 16th September
• Spoke at Aegis Students Annual Conference, Monday 17th September
• Liverpool Students' Union Fresher’s Fair, Tuesday 18th September
• Manchester Met Cheshire (Crewe Campus) Fresher’s Fair, Wednesday 19th September
• Manchester Met Cheshire (Alsager Campus) Fresher’s Fair, Thursday 20th September
• Returned to third year studies at the University of Liverpool
• Liverpool Hope Students' Union Fresher’s Fair, Wednesday 26th September
• Governance Review Steering Group- Conference call, Friday 28th September

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