A year ago, NUS and Unipol released a document called Students in the Community: Working Together to Achieve Harmony. This report was to result of a two-day round table discussion conducted with sabbatical officers who had done work in this field. We felt it was important to revisit this issue, and see what issues were the same, what issues have moved on, and share new approaches and best practice from students’ unions across the country.

Firstly, I would like to thank Unipol and LUU for putting on such a great event, it was a success and everyone I spoke to benefited from attending. I also thought this would be a great opportunity to share with those of you who couldn’t make it to the actual day what we covered and highlight some of the exciting things that are going on across the country.

A round up of the speakers and workshops will be up on the welfare page soon, and should you want to see some copies of the presentations, please get in touch with Sarah Wayman. But here’s some thoughts I had from the day…

1. Partnership:

2. The Future

A key element of the day was planning. These concerns will be here tomorrow, next semester, and even next year. This means we need to dedicate the time and energy to effective strategic planning in this area. The good work we do shouldn’t rely on one good officer but should be embedded across the organisation.

There will be times when students cause a blip in your work – be it a party, a trashed house or excessive litter, but if we are about the long term goals then we can strive to resolve this problems – and respond honestly to them.

There are clouds looming. Increasingly we see the press talking covering articles on ‘student ghost towns’ and the need to ‘restrain’ where students live. These problems are not going away and so students in the community need to be on the agenda in YOUR union. There were students’ unions not represented at this conference, but this isn’t an issue that’s only relevant to pockets of the country – it’s everywhere. I also believe that the issues facing London will be quite different to the issues facing the rest of the country and we need to be on board with those so that we can represent these students effectively.

We all need to raise our profile in the community, ensure we are getting invited to meetings where student issues are discussed and that we are being consulted fully on the issues that affect our members. We need to be honest about where the problems are but also be prepared to fight when we come across unnecessary student-bashing and negative and controlling approaches that are still evident in some policies and discussions that will ultimately not resolve problems but just create news and more division.

This issue is like opening a can of worms, it seems fine, you rip off the lid and suddenly you find more and more issues to contend with. It’s up to us to ensure that students’ unions everywhere can see this can of worms and are equipped and supported enough to deal with the repercussions.

3. Wheelie bins are important!!

Whilst strategies and long term plans are essential, another key result from the day was that the small things really do make a difference! Over and over again we heard stories of people putting their wheelie bins in the gardens, or helping out a neighbour that really impacted on how people felt about each other, and it’s important we don’t forget about those things.

The interplay between overarching strategies, both nationally and locally and how they impact members of the community on an individual level is crucial. We need to be aware of where policies are working and where they are not.

Finally this day has set NUS lots of challenges of where to go next with this agenda, and consulting with students’ unions on what’s happening locally and how we can support you. But today has also been so beneficial in allowing us all to share the successes we’ve had over the last year; the best practice we’ve seen today has highlighted just how effective students’ unions can be in making their mark in the community and on the policy agenda locally.

So, thank you again for your passion, enthusiasm and commitment to this, and please do keep in contact with us!

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