On 7 October GuildHE launched a new joint report with NUS Charity on Governance in Small and Specialist HE Students’ Unions, based on interviews with six representative institutions. The launch was supported by a participatory discussion for Vice-Chancellors and Principals and their Students’ Union President or representative. The accompanying blog below was written by Anthony McClaran, GuildHE Chair and Vice Chancellor, St Mary’s University Twickenham and Chloe Field, Vice President (Higher Education), National Union of Students.
Students are facing real challenges with the cost of living crisis, and universities are seeking to providing real support through a wide variety of approaches, including hardship funds, cheap food in the canteen and food banks, offering warm spaces on campus and many other measures. We are also going to see the launch of the new Teaching Excellence Framework in the next few weeks, which will include a student submission for the first time. These are just some of the many reasons why a strong students’ union voice is so important to be able to champion the needs and views of students.
Smaller and specialist universities and colleges are passionate about engaging their students and rightly proud of the sense of community that it is possible to develop in these institutions. The benefits of this informal engagement and sense of students being able to know all staff right up to the vice chancellor should rightly be treasured.
However, there are some challenges, particularly on the size and resources of the students’ union which can impact on more structured engagement that is consistent over several years. This is why GuildHE is so pleased to be working with NUS to identify ways of strengthening governance in small students’ unions.
We are publishing a new report based on a number of interviews with students and staff in six smaller institutions that provides some fascinating insights into the experiences in smaller students’ unions and this will be used to identify some additional key resources.
The relationships between students’ unions and universities were generally very positive and based on a desire for student focused improvements. There are however a range of approaches to the legal status of the students’ unions and the level of independence from their partner institutions. This isn’t usually a problem but can cause concerns based on considering what would happen if that relationship broke down or an external body raised a compliance question where the lines of accountability are unclear (such as with complaints and appeals to the OIA).
Small and specialist students’ unions also usually rely heavily on either their sole staff member or their most senior staff member regardless of their job title (of which there are many). All stakeholders acknowledge that these roles are the lynchpin for the success of the organisation; potentially the single point of failure or success. These senior staff also reported feeling vulnerable in terms of how much is placed on their shoulders.
There was recognition in the research of the need to focus on the governance structures. The report sets out four areas that can improve board governance; structures, processes, meetings & behaviours. The report highlights a number of reflective questions in each section including considering whether the union have:
- Reflected on the purpose of your board and therefore considered the ideal make-up in terms of mix of students’ union officers, students and independent members?
- Considered whether the board focuses enough on strategic issues?
- Is there an induction and ongoing development of trustee members, including the chair?
- Are board meeting discussions sufficiently challenging to support good decision-making?
We hope that the report will be a helpful resource for both students’ unions and their institutions to consider how to build strong student engagement. To help foster this GuildHE and NUS are holding a joint meeting between our heads of institutions and students’ unions to discuss these issues further and identify some possible areas for additional resources that we could jointly produce.
We hope to continue to build on the engagement that we have with students to ensure that their voices are heard and listened to.