Edinburgh Napier University students are offered the opportunity to have their say on membership of NUS and NUS Scotland via a referendum
Edinburgh Napier Students' Association (ENSA) has been a member of the National Union of Students (NUS) and NUS Scotland for a number of years and pays an annual figure from our block grant to support the work they do.
For several years, students and elected Student Presidents have queried membership of NUS and whether this offers value for money for both ENSA and all Edinburgh Napier students.
ENSA feels it is time that current students at the University are offered the opportunity to have their say via a referendum on membership of NUS and NUS Scotland. This will be conducted at the same time as the ENSA Student Elections, in the week commencing Monday 10 March. We also intend to imbed this in our articles of association so subsequent students can have a say on future membership every five years. NUS are fully aware of our intention to conduct this referendum.
If ENSA does cease its membership of NUS UK and NUS Scotland, it will continue to be part of NUS Charity which provides support for developing Students' Associations, including insurance and training. ENSA intends to facilitate the referendum but will not give an opinion either way. The current student presidents are taking a neutral stance and will base their vote on what they hear from our students during the campaign.
We urge all students at Edinburgh Napier University to take this opportunity to listen and learn about NUS and NUS Scotland and make your voice heard by voting YES or NO to NUS membership as part of the ENSA Student Elections. You decide!
Join a campaign team
To ensure both sides are represented, we invite current students who feel we shouldn't continue to be members to come forward to form an official 'no' campaign team, and those who think we should continue to be members to come forward as an official 'yes' campaign team.
If you are interested, please let us know by no later than Friday 21st February at 12 noon (this is also deadline for our student elections applications). If there is more than one group, we will introduce you to work together as one team.
The yes group will be given NUS and NUS Scotland’s contact details to work alongside them.
If you would like to be involved with either campaign, please email representation@napierstudents.com.