Hi! My name is Nathan Wyatt and I am running to be your Vice President for Higher Education. I want to build an NUS that is open, visible to students, and focused on making education a right, not a privilege.
I’ve been fighting for students’ rights since starting uni in 2020, both as an activist and as an officer. I’ve dealt with it all – financial mismanagement, COVID-19, rent strikes, cost-of-living crisis, accommodation nightmares, you name it! I understand the power of the student movement and know how vital a strong union is to help push through change.
My Record:
● Welfare Officer at UEA Students Union 2023-24.
● Secured £800 rent rebates for every student on my campus in 2021.
● Organised a week of action against staff cuts.
● Supported student’s through UEA’s financial crisis.
● Worked to build community networks for officers in my region.
● Set up warm banks on campus when electricity prices skyrocketed.
Here are my
promises to you:
1. Fight for Free Education
Our higher education system is broken, and has been for decades. Tuition fees have turned students into walking pound signs and Universities into corporations as opposed to institutions for the expansion of knowledge and skills to solve the problems of today. It is paramount to the student movement that we fight consistently for free, accessible and democratised education.
As your VP HE I will:
● Organise with students across the country to fight against the marketisation of education and to completely change the funding model to be publicly funded and free for all
● Campaign for the reintroduction of maintenance grants in line with the national living wage
● Work in solidarity with trade unions, building up collaborations between NUS and UCU - staff working conditions are students learning conditions!
●
Push for the
government to increase maintenance loans in line with living wage
2. Stand up for International Students
International students are treated like second class citizens and used as cash cows to pad university budgets. The UK government's hostile environment policies are only getting worse- it is more important than ever for the student movement to stand with international students and against attacks on migrants.
As your VP HE I will:
● Call for universities and OFS to regulate admissions agencies and stop predatory recruitment tactics.
● Fight for international students to be entitled to student funding.
● Push for more international student representation in NUS.
● Work with VP Liberation to campaign against the hostile environment.
3. Fix the Student Rental Crisis.
Students are being priced out of higher education by unaffordable rents- in the last two years, student rent has risen by nearly 15%! This is unsustainable and creating more barriers to accessing HE
As your VP HE, I will:
● Push for the government to more effectively regulate purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA’s)
● Fight for no-fault evictions ban to finally be enacted.
● Organise with student grassroot activists for affordable rent quotas in university owned accommodation.
● Provide support to student rent strikers and work with them to establish a National Student Tenants Union
● Call for the end of student housing guarantors!
4. Decentralise NUS.
students in Newcastle face different problems from those in Norwich – the issues faced in Bradford are going to be distinct from those in Bristol! For a strong student movement, it is imperative that we build power from the ground up! We must decentralise power and support student organising beyond the NUS Officer team.
As your VP HE I will:
● Set up regional SU groups where officers can meet in person to discuss successes and shared problems.
● Dedicated staff facilitation time, quarterly regional events and budget ring fenced for this work
● Provide more support to the existing regional groups and have support group chats ready for next year’s officers.
● Facilitate collaborations between city universities (like the Greater Manchester Student Assembly) to help change our local communities for the better!
Students in the UK deserve so much
better than what they are currently getting. As your Vice-President for Higher Education I promise you that I will stand up for
what we deserve, and make sure that our voices are heard. Vote Nathan #1 for Vice President HE!
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