The following is the text from a letter sent from the Socialist Students steering committee to Alex Stanley, Vice President Higher Education for the National Union of Students (NUS), on Wednesday 9th April.

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Dear Alex Stanley,

As you will know, there is a major funding crisis in higher education which is hitting students, staff, and local communities. Over 5000 redundancies have been planned by the vice-chancellors this academic year, with up to 5000 more to come according to the University and College Union (UCU). Students continue to suffer from a devastating gap between our living costs and maintenance support, and our futures are stalked by uncertainty in a volatile world of increasing war, climate crisis and poverty.  

In response to the funding crisis in post-16 education,  UCU has launched the ‘Stop the Cuts’ campaign, which includes a national demonstration in London on Saturday 10^th May. Socialist Students will be rallying as many students as we can to the UCU demonstration, because we think this event – organised by the largest trade union in higher education, as part of a national campaign against the crisis of marketisation – can be a vital staging point for building a united student and worker movement for fully funded, free education. But that is also why we believe NUS must do everything it can to seriously build for this demonstration.

We call for:

1. NUS to encourage all students’ unions to arrange free or low-cost transport to Central London on Saturday 10^th May, including financially supporting students’ unions to do so if necessary
2. NUS to issue the call to all students’ unions to actively promote the UCU demonstration among its members – including: emailing details of the demonstration to students; organising leafleting sessions; and postering across campus
3. NUS to produce a public statement in solidarity with the UCU ‘Stop the Cuts’ campaign
4. NUS to hold a national online meeting, open to all who wish to attend, on the topic of, ‘How students can unite with staff for fully funded, free education’

We recognise that NUS has begun campaigning around funding for education, and welcome the ‘A Fair Deal for Our Future’ campaign, which includes the demand for better maintenance support. However, we believe student leadership has to go much further in raising what is needed for a genuinely fair and free education system for all. Socialist Students has launched the Funding Not Fees campaign this year, raising the following set of demands:

• No to Labour’s tuition fee hike – scrap fees and cancel student debt
• Living grants, not loans
• Stop all cuts and closures on campus. End low pay and casualisation of staff
• Divestment from arms and big business – no place for profiteers from war and exploitation on our campus

We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss further what ideas and strategy are needed to mobilise students alongside staff in a movement for free, fully funded education. To this end, please could we arrange a meeting at the earliest possible convenience between NUS representatives and members of the Socialist Students steering committee?

In solidarity,
Socialist Students steering committee