Birmingham beckons as students visit national conference
01/12/2011
Jack Gibbs and James Beaver at the Bull Ring in Birmingham
The National Union of Students (NUS) recently held its annual conference for Further Education (FE) Colleges - FEstival, at the University of Birmingham. The event is open to students' union representatives from Colleges up and down the country, and recently elected members of the Student Executive, from the College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus travelled to Birmingham to find out about how the NUS can help them organise successful student-led events and campaigns at the College during the coming year.
The conference included skills workshops, talks from inspirational speakers, and networking opportunities, which all aimed to stimulate and motivate the guest representatives from various student unions, as well as introduce the delegates to the NUS and outline its campaigns for the year. Central Sussex College's Student Executive representatives, James Beaver, who is 18, and Chairman, Jack Gibbs, who is 17, and Secretary, attended the event with Student Executive President, 17-year-old Robin Hanford for the trip.
After arriving at the venue delegates packed the main hall for an address by Toni Pearce, the NUS Vice President (FE), followed by a light-hearted debate by officers from the NUS National Executive Committee. James, Jack and Robin then spent the rest of the morning attending individual sessions, before they met with a Policy and Development Advisor or FE Project Officer for a one-to-one planning and advice session to maximise the success of student activities back in Haywards Heath.
Robin Hanford found the day extremely beneficial, and took plenty of new ideas back to benefit the students at College. He said: "We were really grateful for the opportunity to get tailored advice on how to help transform Central Sussex College's Students' Union/Executive. I believe it has the potential to become one of the most active FE unions in the country, and feel that attending FEstival has given our Union a greater capability to meet the needs of students."
Whilst there, the trio were introduced to the NUS 'Get on the Bus' campaign. The campaign is designed to make MPs aware of where a student's ability to travel to college is hindered by inadequate or excessively expensive bus provision; a problem which affects students all over the country, including those at Central Sussex College. Robin explains: "We've really taken this campaign 'on board' will be running an event at the Haywards Heath campus on Monday 5 December, with a petition and information in Reception throughout the day."
