NUS: National Union of Students – a refresher

Tired of hearing debates on the upcoming NUS resolution and feeling utterly unable to comment? Exhausted with that one debater friend (everyone has one) who argues endlessly that joining NUS is/isn’t for St Andrews? Well, we feel your pain. Below is list of ‘things you should know’ about joining the National Union of Students, which we hope will help you cast an informed vote and eloquently argue your views in future. This information comes from the university’s NUS Referendum Fact Sheet, drafted by the Senior Elections team and designed to be perfectly impartial.

Costs and revenue associated with affiliation

The National Union of Students charges annual fees in exchange for its services. If affiliated, St Andrews would not be charged until its first full year (2013/2014), and would then pay £9,687.60. After this, St Andrews would then pay NUS £19,367.15, annually. These figures are based on last year’s student population of 7,777, but can shift higher or lower depending on the number of students matriculated each year.

NUS then offers the university some revenue through the selling of their ‘NUS Extra cards’ to students. For every £12 card sold, the Student’s Association (SA) can retain £4.71. On average, under one third of the student body at NUS-affiliated universities buy these cards:

For St Andrews to break even on its eventual membership fee of £19,367.15, approximately 60% of students would need to buy cards. Below is a graph that shows what our tiny town will earn if the average under 30% of students buy them.

Over the next three years, the Union is likely to see increasingly large deficits due to re-development; this will entail shutting and/or reducing revenue generators like the main bar and cafe. BOOO (until we have a shiny new Union). The Union is currently predicting a small deficit for this year of £8480. Given that Venue 1 and the Main Bar are going to close and people will no longer be able to procrastinate over cheap messibombs in the Union pre-Lizard/Vic, it is likely that this deficit will widen over the next three years, then returning to a net surplus after November 2015. In their estimated deficit, they haven’t budgeted for the annual fees of NUS.

Below in blue is the budget the university has set for university services. In red, how much was spent on the same services in 2011/12.

Services provided by NUS

On the NUS website they say,“we help unions in their work through the research we carry out, the training we offer to student officers, the materials we produce and the documents we publish. Effectively it’s like getting an additional team of over 50 staff and 25 elected officers to assist your students and students’ union.”

And documentation from NUS to the Students’ Association listed the following services, which are qualified as the “minimum services offered”:

Two days of in-house training for 20 officers and representatives and in-house, activist training for 100 representatives. Two days of higher education consultancy, of union democracy and governance consultancy, and of management consultancy. The NUS Impact report from 2008 describes consultancy visits as ranging from “acting as returning officers in student elections and conducting bespoke training for elected officers, to helping unions overcome staffing difficulties.”

The NUS will also provide a Digital Basic Package, which is described as “a website service that includes simple functions.” This doesn’t include commercial services.

NUS National Conference attendance and accommodation for three delegates (not including travel costs), plus membership in the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organizations.

Further services not included in the association fee include summer training for four Student Association officers (totalling £2,056, excluding travel costs) and the NUS Digital Full Package (totaling £7,000 with some revenue potential from advertising).

Bored yet? Never fear because that’s everything we gotta tell you; a comprehensive guide to the inner-workings of the potential relationship between the Students’ Association and the NUS.

The Stand will be following the ever-evolving saga until the referendum, which starts on November 14^th and ends on 16^th.