National Union of Students — Written evidence (CHA0111)
About NUS and students’ unions
0.1 The National Union of Students (NUS) is a confederation of more than 550 students’ unions, representing over 95 per cent of all higher education (HE) and further education (FE) unions in the UK. WE have 383 FE members, 178 HE members and two apprentice provider members. Through our member students’ unions, NUS represents the interests of more than seven million students. NUS represents students and students’ unions to ensure that education is transformative, skills and learning are accessible and every student in the UK is empowered to achieve their potential.
0.2 All higher education institutions and most further education institutions in the UK have a students’ union as defined by the Education Act 1994. Whilst most students’ unions in Higher Education are registered charities, very few in FE colleges are registered. The majority of students’ unions have become registered charities during the past decade since the passage of the Charities Act 2006. Following the Act, NUS worked with the Charity Commission to support the registration of unions with £100k+ turnover initially. However, as most FE unions are far smaller and can operate as student councils, parliaments or learner voice groups, they are not registered charities and in some cases operate more as semi-autonomous college departments, overseen by college boards under the 1994 Education Act.
0.3 NUS is recognised by the Charity Commission as the umbrella body for students’ unions. By working with and through students’ unions, together the movement has undertaken significant work over a number of years to help ensure good governance and compliance with Charity Commission requirements.
1. What is the role and purpose of charities in civic society in England and Wales?
1.1 The role and purpose of students’ unions is to promote the general interests of students, as enshrined in law by the Education Act 1994. Students’ unions form a vital part of the education landscape and are powerful agents of positive change on campuses, in communities and in wider society; transforming the lives of the students they represent, helping students to transform the campuses and communities in which they live and developing active citizens who go on to transform society.
1.2 The size of individual students’ unions and the scope of their activities varies significantly, dependent on the level of funding they receive and the nature of the institution but, broadly, they provide:
• academic support and advice
• representation for students
• welfare advice and support
• sports clubs, societies and social activities.
1.3 Shaping the lives, health and happiness of students
Students’ unions are representatives of students throughout their institution’s decision making structures and are major employers of students in their buildings and through their activities, helping them gain key employment experience. They support the welfare of students through comprehensive advice and guidance; provide a wide range of cultural, developmental and social opportunities; and play a vital role in providing independent expert advice and advocacy to students in institutional hearings.
1.4 Whether it is through their work changing the social norms around drinking on our campuses through their work on alcohol impact; or leading the debate on sustainability and lad culture; or in providing life-changing experiences for hundreds of thousands of students through their clubs and societies; or in driving up educational quality through supporting systems such as course reps and innovative practice in student engagement: students’ unions are widely recognised as a positive and powerful influence on higher education.
1.5 n 2015 Teesside University Students’ Union, in collaboration with NUS, conducted the Students’ Union (SU) Survey. 94 HE Students’ Unions responded reporting:
• 179,500 visits to advice services, which handled 89,900 cases (an average of nearly 1,000 in each institution) during the 2013/14 academic year.
• 188,400 students playing sport and 355,600 students in societies and non-sporting groups.
• Support provided to 42,900 student representatives of the student voice at course, faculty, and school levels - an average of approximately 440 per institution.
1.6 Shaping and supporting the communities around them
Students’ unions also make a huge contribution to the communities in which they are situated and to wider society, helping to build cohesive, inclusive and supportive environments and creating socially responsible citizens who continue to participate in civic life beyond graduation.
1.7 Every year, students’ unions raise millions of pounds of funding for charities through their RAG week activities. The majority of this money goes to support the work of local community groups. In addition, students’ unions enable hundreds of thousands of students to undertake volunteering activities every year, benefitting local communities, as well as encouraging individuals to develop volunteering as a lifelong behaviour.
1.8 As an example of the contribution made through students’ union-organised volunteering: 3,500 students from the University of Manchester Students’ Union take part in community volunteering activities every year and in 2015/16 1,020 students from University of Birmingham Guild of Students actively volunteered and contributed to the local community. Those students’ unions who responded to the 2015 SU survey supported over 4,300 community projects involving 37,800 students in total.
1.9 Shaping a fairer, more sustainable society
Through enabling participation in co-curricular activities and engaging students in decision making students’ unions play a crucial role in developing active citizens and preparing individuals for future leadership roles. For example, together with the government, the NUS and students’ unions rolled out the influential student voter registration programmes for General Election 2015 and SUs continue to work to encourage and support voter registration among their student populations. Many of yesterday’s (and today’s) leaders developed in students’ unions – perhaps precisely because they were able to drive change in the world around them while they studied.
1.10 Challenges
As demonstrated above, students’ unions play a considerable role in communities – contributing to community cohesion, delivering community work and raising funds for community projects. One challenge to this role however is the persistent negative perceptions of students’ unions, our services and membership – traditional conceptions of heavy-drinking students causing havoc in local communities can be difficult to overcome. It can be hard to convey messages about the positive impacts in ways that stick.
1.11 Charities can deliver a wide range of social impacts, which are felt by everyone in society, including individual beneficiaries. It is important that the role of charities, including students’ unions, is valued by society and to this is demonstrating and communicating impact. As a movement we are developing ways to measure and express the impact of students’ unions more effectively.
2. What are the main pressures faced by charities currently, and what impact have these had?
2.1 Financial pressures and opportunities
The charity sector as a whole has faced significant financial pressures during the last decade however, due to their different funding model, students’ unions overall have largely escaped these pressures so far. Most students’ unions rely significantly on block grants from their institution for their funding and this has remained a reliable source of income in a time when other charitable income sources have been stretched. Many students’ unions also run substantial commercial activities such as catering, merchandise sales and events, which provide them with an independent source of income.
2.2 This funding model removes the need to rely on traditional forms of charity funding - grants and donations but it does pose challenges of its own. One key challenge is that the funding is provided by the institution, which is also the body that unions have to hold to account.
Despite having escaped some of the worst financial pressures so far radical changes to the education landscape are beginning to change this picture. The merger of many further education providers through the ongoing Area Review process in England and the introduction of reforms to higher education through the recent government white paper and the Higher Education and Research Bill are creating a more marketised, competitive sector and a more unstable environment for institutions. In addition, the reduction in traditional public sector services and cuts to voluntary sector funding more widely have pushed more students onto union run services e.g. advice centres. This will place pressure on students’ unions’ funding and pose challenges for delivery of services to a changing and expanding student body.
2.3 Furthermore, as noted above students’ unions come in all shapes and sizes. There is a significant difference between the funding, size and capacity of unions in further education compared with unions in higher education. The main challenge facing FE students’ unions at the moment is the Area Review process, which has the potential to weaken students’ unions throughout the country. Many FE institutions are already cutting students’ union services, which is highly concerning.
2.4 Following the lifting of caps on student numbers, increasing expansion of transnational education and a focus on recruiting more international students, the size and demographics of the student body have changed significantly. Students’ unions now have to find ways to represent and provide services for a greater number of students, some of whom may not even live in the country, with limited resources to do so and the continued pressure to deliver an excellent, personalised service for all.
2.5 Finally, changes in student spending since the early 2000s mean that students’ unions have to adapt their commercial models to reflect and cater to changing needs and habits. For example, while in the 1990s and early 2000s students’ unions could rely much more heavily on income from alcohol sales, student spending in this area has declined significantly in the years since.
2.6 An ever changing membership and officer team
The fast-paced nature of students’ unions and the regular turnover in membership lead to operational challenges. Officers change every year and so institutional memory, continuity of knowledge and skills and long term contacts are difficult to maintain. Students’ unions’ membership is also transient, often staying in a local community for only a couple of years, so relationships have to constantly be rebuilt.
3. How do charities seek to innovate, particularly in the digital arena?
3.1 Students’ unions are particularly innovative in the areas of youth leadership and democratic practices.
3.2 Students’ unions have been driving the development of strong and participatory democratic processes in students’ unions for a number of years and have followed closely Electoral Reform Society principles and expertise around ATV systems in doing so.
3.3 Modern democratic processes in many students’ unions are not simply focussed on the election of student leaders; they provide multiple mechanisms for students to contribute to the development of their union and have a say in how it is run, making use of social media and digital democratic techniques in doing so. Participative democracy instils a sense of citizenship and the recent increases in the number of students voting in general and local elections is partly attributable to improvements in student democracy.
3.4 Many students’ unions are seeking to become ever more innovative in their development of best practice in democracy. NUS has partnered with students’ unions to undertake more than twenty democracy reviews, creating a number of trailblazer unions who are now making use of innovative forms of inclusive democracy. Our reviews have shown us that the movement is committed to continuous review and have usually resulted in additional methods for students to feed into the decision making processes of the students’ union.
3.5 Students’ unions lead the way in their commitment to and their delivery of youth engagement and leadership. For instance, they are particularly successful in developing and supporting young trustees. The boards of students’ unions contain significant representation of young people and students’ unions have been effective in managing their meaningful involvement, something that the wider charity sector could learn from. This has important implications for the wider sector, as the skills that students gain from their involvement as trustees of students’ unions could be harnessed for the benefit of other charities.
3.6 Digital innovation
The students’ union movement has invested significantly since 2011 in a robust national digital infrastructure and in producing a flexible range of digital engagement solutions. NUS’ UnionCloud is now delivering essential digital services for many members, with a current user base of 53 Students’ Unions and reach of over 765,000 students. Among other functions, UnionCloud enables students’ unions to deliver e-commerce activities and total e-commerce transactions are growing exponentially year-on-year, processing over £4.4m on behalf of members in last 12 months. Each year, NUS hosts a Digital Summit for 110 delegates to encourage thought leadership and sharing good practice across digital technologies.
3.7 However, students’ unions face barriers to pursuing wide-scale innovation in the digital arena due to limited resources for investment in this area and a lack of the necessary skills and experience among staff. There is set amount of students’ union funding that becomes business as usual, so sometimes harder to free up funds to invest in innovation. Resourcing – both in terms of financial support for equipment and staff training and the time to develop new techniques and projects – is limited.
4. What skills are required to lead and manage a charity?
4.1 Students’ unions, as with any other organisation, require a balance of both leadership and management in order to fulfil their role most effectively. They are different in relation to other charities in that they have a dual leadership structure – the elected student leadership and the appointed staff leadership. This structure is part of what makes students’ unions dynamic, creative, transformative institutions but it also creates some operational challenges.
4.2 Skills needed
Excellent leadership of a students’ union requires vision, passion and an ambition to create positive change. Strategic planning skills and experience are also crucial in order to ensure the ability to predict and adapt to a changing environment and changes in the demands of the membership.
4.3 Effective management of a students’ union requires professional management skills, excellent financial acumen, a thorough understanding of the membership and its needs, combined with experience of the sector. The quality of management within the students’ union sector is high, with many CEOs possessing high level management qualifications including MBAs. However, two areas in need of development are the career paths through students’ unions (as these are currently unclear) and support for developing the competencies of staff at all levels. NUS is currently developing a Learning Academy to provide a continuous programme of personal and professional development for staff and officers that is both on and offline.
4.4 Support to develop these skills
Students’ unions make use of a well-renowned and comprehensive learning and development programme provided by NUS and developed in partnership with external experts such as Vanilla Consulting and the CASS Centre for Charity Effectiveness. It is designed for student and staff leaders of students’ unions to ensure they are equipped with the professional skills and competencies required to lead significant organisations.
4.5 NUS equips student leaders with the additional knowledge, skills and leadership competencies they need through our flagship ‘Lead and Change’ summer residential programme, which kick starts our year round development programme and includes online learning, webinars, face-to-face taught sessions as well as intensive residential courses. Last year 500 student leaders completed this programme.
4.6 As a movement, we are committed to the belief that diverse leadership creates a more accountable and effective leadership and NUS runs programmes specifically designed to develop and support equality and diversity. We run an ‘Aspiring Women Leaders’ programme in conjunction with Aspire and a Black Leaders programme as well as organising an annual Women in Leadership Conference which attracts 300 delegates to each event. Additionally NUS runs the ‘I Will Lead’ coaching and mentoring scheme which is open to anyone who self-defines as a Woman, Black, Disabled or LGBTQ+ student and matches them to people who are successful leaders and gives them access to free coaching and mentoring to help them to develop their potential.
5. What role should trustees play in the performance and effectiveness of a charity?
5.1 The role of a trustee within a students’ union is similar to that of a trustee within any other charity, with the exception that they are required to support and work alongside the elected leadership of the students’ union as well as provide oversight and strategic guidance for the work of appointed staff.
5.2 NUS provides support and guidance to students’ unions on the recruitment, training and development of trustees. In our Quality Students’ Union framework (outlined in more detail under question six) we clearly set out the role of trustees within a students’ union as follows:
5.7.4 In order to alleviate the potential conflicts between members’ interests, performance, and compliance which may arise at X Students’ Union as a democratic charity, it is essential that all elected and appointed trustees receive a comprehensive induction and on-going training so that the Trustee Board can achieve in practice the key principles of governance, namely:
A: Trustee Board Leadership – the trustees must accept ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of the organisation, focusing on the strategic direction rather than day to day operational issues, and ensuring it is solvent, well-run, and delivering the outcomes for which it is set up.
B: Trustee Board in Control – it is collectively responsible and accountable for ensuring the organisation is performing well and compliant with its obligations; it should regularly review key risks to the organisation and its performance monitoring, act prudently to protect the organisation’s assets, and apply the principles of equality and diversity.
C: Trustee Board High Performance – the trustees should ensure that they receive the induction, training and support needed to discharge their duties; they should ensure the advice and information they receive throughout their tenure is of a quality to make good decisions; they should clearly understand their responsibilities and organise the work of the Board to ensure its effectiveness; and make proper arrangements for the supervision, scrutiny, support, appraisal, and remuneration of its senior staff member.
D: Trustee Board Review and Renewal – the Board should regularly review and assess its own performance, that of all individual Trustees, and of sub-committees; it should have a strategy for its renewal and diversity; and should periodically carry out strategic reviews of all key aspects of the organisation’s work, using the results to inform positive change.
E: Trustee Board Delegation – the Board should set out the functions of sub-committees, officers, chief executive, other staff and agents in clear and sufficient delegated authorities with clear budgetary limits, and regularly monitor their performance.
(Quality Students’ Unions: http://qualitystudentsunions.org.uk/)
5.3 Students’ unions also operate within a good governance code of practice, developed with support from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Universities UK. This is applicable to all students’ unions, follows Charity Commission requirements closely; establishes seven key principles of good governance and provides the mechanisms for students’ unions to assess themselves against those principles.
5.4 Students’ unions have increasingly strong trustee boards that contain a healthy mixture of experience and involve beneficiaries, student leaders and external members. Sabbatical officers of students’ unions who are elected through a union’s democratic structures will become members of the trustee board. Our last survey in 2013 indicated the breakdown of the average make-up of students’ union trustee boards as follows: 45% student leaders, 25% beneficiaries and 30% external. As described in our response to question three, students’ unions can provide useful examples and lessons for the wider charity sector on the engagement and meaningful involvement of young trustees.
5.5 Nevertheless, there are some specific challenges that face trustee boards within students’ unions. Due to the transient nature of students on the board there is a relatively high turnover of trustees. We embrace this as an opportunity for fresh ideas and student leadership and we manage the risks by ensuring high quality, rapid induction and making sure external trustees contribute a greater level of continuity. There is an opportunity here to make greater use of external trustees as mentors for student board members. This can be particularly useful since students’ union CEOs are in the unusual position of being managed by the student officers while also playing a mentoring role for them.
5.6 As for many charities it can be difficult to recruit trustees with particular forms of professional experience, particularly legal and financial experience. There is an additional challenge for students’ unions in that there is often a gap between external trustees’ perception of the role and nature of a students’ union and the reality. External trustees bring vital and valuable skills and experience but have to be carefully recruited and developed so that they fully understand what a students’ union board will be like. To aid this we have built relationships with executive recruitment companies including Peridot, Morgan Hunt and Proventure who support students’ unions in doing this, and groups of students’ unions recruit external trustees collectively through the following portal: http://www.nowgivesomethingback.com/.
6. How can charities ensure that they are properly accountable to their beneficiaries, their donors, and the general public?
6.1 The accountability structures governing the work of students’ unions are particularly strong. They are accountable to the Charity Commission; to their institution, and to their members and beneficiaries -the students. Students’ unions and NUS are not complacent when it comes to ensuring transparency and accountability. We believe there are a number of key areas where, potentially by working in partnership with other sector agencies and funding bodies, we can undertake work to further improve the transparency and accountability of students’ unions and those are outlined below.
6.2 The activities of students’ unions are regulated by law. Relevant statutes include:
• Charities Act 2011 (in England and Wales)
• Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (in Scotland)
• Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (in Northern Ireland)
• Education (No. 2) Act 1986 (relevant sections apply across the whole of the UK)
• Education Act 1994 (in England, Wales and Scotland)
• Representation of the People Act 1983 (across the whole of the UK)
• Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (across the whole of the UK)
• Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (across the whole of the UK)
6.3 Some of these laws give powers to regulate the activities of students’ unions to particular bodies, for example:
• The governing bodies of colleges and universities
• The Charity Commission (in England and Wales), the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (in Scotland) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (in Northern Ireland)
• The Electoral Commission
6.4 Accountability to the Charity Commission
As registered charities students’ unions can only commit resources in pursuit of their charitable objectives. In England and Wales they are accountable to the Charity Commission and required to file an annual return and set of accounts. In addition to holding charitable status some students’ unions hold company status and are thereby required to comply with Companies House regulations. Like any other charity unions comply with specific financial reporting commitments from the Charity Commission through the Charities SORP.
6.5 A large number of students’ unions make use of model governing documents that have been developed by NUS for its affiliate members, alongside legal guidance produced by BWB LLP,. This helps to ensure that students’ unions possess robust governing documents that are fit-for-purpose, contain appropriate educational objects and have the usual provisions required for charities. These have been considered by the Charity Commission and, where appropriate, given approval for use by SUs when registering with them.
6.6 Accountability to education institutions
Under the provisions of the Education Act 1994, students’ unions are accountable to their institutions. Many have clear Memorandum of Understandings and Service Level Agreements with their institution that set out clearly what the relevant reporting requirements are. Students’ unions meet regularly with their institutions in order to report on progress against targets and financial performance. A strong, positive dialogue with the institution at an operational level is important and students’ union staff have a key role in maintaining that.
6.7 Students’ unions are a professional reflective community and often ask NUS to help them develop, for example we have helped them to undertake in excess of 40 governance-related reviews in the last three years. The associated learning is available for other unions through webinars, online resources and our trustee training module. Feedback shows that there has been increased confidence from parent institutions, leading to fewer interventions and increased freedom of resources. The reserves position of most unions has been seen to improve. Risk registers are in place and are actively monitored.
6.8 Democratic accountability
Students’ unions are accountable to their members through their democratic structures and processes. Every year, thousands of students take part in democratic processes to elect officers who represent them and lead their students’ union. As a sector students’ unions have developed effective and innovative representational structures to ensure officers are held to account. For instance, by introducing scrutiny committees to review the performance and functioning of the union and using online democracy portals to communicate and track the progress of ideas adopted and motions passed.
6.9 Quality Students’ Unions
Central to ensuring that students’ unions are transparent and accountable is the need to develop approaches to organisational development that are contextual, fit-for-purpose, and drive up quality. Students’ unions have long recognised this need for a wide range of organisational development activity designed to increase the quality of students’ unions, and NUS has provided support for them.
6.10 Increasingly fundamental to all of this work is NUS’ Quality Students’ Unions (QSU) framework. This was developed by NUS on behalf of students’ unions, with funding and endorsement from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and support from a wide range of sector partners, to assure their quality, standards and overall effectiveness. This quality mark is a single management tool that interlocks with, and complements, relevant standards and codes that already exist within the student movement.
6.11 QSU is designed to help students’ unions meet a set of minimum standards to be considered an accredited students’ union and provides a robust framework for unions to self-develop, accessing expertise in key areas and benchmarking against comparable students’ unions. Now in its second year of operation, it has over 127 students’ unions registered on the scheme and working their way through it. Increasingly, NUS and students’ unions will be using the criteria in that scheme to underpin their organisational development.
6.12 NUS’ intention is that QSU will become a way to stretch students’ unions beyond their current capacity and improve transparency and accountability. As unions progress through QSU, they are able to demonstrate publically the standard of their organisation – ‘good’, ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. We hope this provides useful, open data for prospective students, parents and other stakeholders, including universities, who are then able to use this as a key part of their Education Act 1994 duties to safeguard the effective operation of SUs.
6.13 We believe this is an area where even more progress can and should be made. Whilst many students’ unions have registered for the scheme, and many are currently progressing to achieve verification we would like many more to make it through the scheme. We would be keen to explore what more can be done to encourage and support students’ unions through this vital process by way of endorsement and support or resources either from government or from other related sector agencies.
6.14 Data sharing
Core to ensuring the transparency and accountability of students’ unions is the level of engagement they have with their student members, both in terms of breadth and depth of engagement. If unions have high levels of engagement then the student body themselves will be in a position to ensure that transparency and accountability is maintained.
We know that key to achieving this engagement is being able to contact students directly and that robust data sharing arrangements with parent providers, that enable the transfer of student details whilst rightly upholding legal principles of data protection, are required to support this. Many students’ unions have solid data sharing agreements in place with their parent institutions already, yet not all do, and this is an area for development.
6.15 We would be keen work with relevant partners and sector agencies, such as HEFCE, to require providers to share this information and to develop good practice in how that data sharing should be undertaken in an ethical and sound manner
7. What are the current challenges to financial sustainability, as well as efficient resource and risk management for the sector?
7.1 We have covered many of the financial challenges currently facing students’ unions in section two and so will not repeat here those that have already been covered. Increasing instability in the education environment may lead to pressure on university block grant funding for students’ union, alongside growing pressures on their services as the result of an expanding student population. Block grants are often awarded annually, on a rolling basis, which poses challenges in terms of financial planning. It can also lead to difficulties for students’ unions in building up reserves funds. This is an area that is improving but there is a need to develop a more robust approach to reserves management. Additionally, some institutions have moved to awarding three-year block grants to students’ unions, which can aid financial planning, but this practice is not currently widespread and is another area for development.
7.2 There is a difference in the scale of challenges to achieving financial sustainability that different students’ unions face in accordance with their size and structure. Students’ unions in further education are generally underfunded compared to those in higher education. Larger colleges are more able to provide a successful and financially able students’ union, though it is rare to have a budget over £15,000. Many FE institutions do not have any form of sabbatical team for delivery of their functions. Many FE students’ unions do not have staff and, where they do, the core role of those staff is within the college, rather than being students’ union specific.
7.3 A final significant challenge for students’ unions is the cost of pensions including the transition to auto-enrolment, which is a large-scale financial undertaking, and the increasing cost of pension deficit contributions.
8. What is the potential of social investment and social impact bonds?
8.1 This is an area for further discussion and consideration among the movement and so we do not have specific comments in relation to this question at present.
9. What should the role of Government be with the sector?
9.1 As mentioned above, the structure and democratic nature of students’ unions makes them quite distinctive within the charity sector. Given the size and diversity of the charity sector overall understanding the complexities of each individual part of it is a difficult task. There is a clear knowledge gap in the Charity Commission about the role and activities of students’ unions, as reported to us by our membership and an opportunity for the Charity Commission to develop a clearer understanding of students’ unions, how our democratic processes operate and the services we offer.
9.2 It is clear that this knowledge gap also exists in some areas of government. Last year’s Higher Education Green Paper alluded to similarities between students’ unions and trade unions. They are organised very differently due to students’ unions charitable status. Unlike trade unions, students’ unions are prevented from direct political campaigning and activity and are funded by their institution because their activity fits within the educational mission of Higher Education.
9.3 More accessible guidance from the Charity Commission about the role and responsibilities of trustees, produced in a variety of media, would be very useful.
9.4 Devolution
Students’ unions will need to consider how to adapt their strategies and work with local decision makers in order to respond to devolution. A key consideration for students’ unions in devolved areas will be the extent to which young people and students are engaged in elections and involved in local decision making. There may be opportunities for students’ unions to work more closely with local decisions and play a greater role in issues of key importance for their students, such as community safety, housing, crime prevention and transport.
10. What can the charitable sector in England and Wales learn from other sectors and/or approaches taken in other countries, including from Northern Ireland and Scotland?
10.1 NUS engages in collaborative projects and communication with students’ unions across the globe in order to advance the learning and development of NUS and UK students’ unions and to support that of students and students’ unions in other countries. We are partners in the European Students’ Union (ESU), the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) and the Commonwealth Students’ Association (CSA).
10.2 We believe that it would be useful to see more cross-border dialogue and collaborative working between charity sector bodies in the UK nations. Greater collaboration between organisations such as: the Charity Commission (for England and Wales), the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator; and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action and Welsh Council for Voluntary Action would be beneficial to all and to the sectors they represent.
10.3 There may be lessons that students’ unions could learn from other sectors, such as the private sector in terms of recruitment and retention of talent as well as best practice HR processes and systems.
5 September 2016