The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched a new manifesto entitled ‘New Deal for the Next Generation’, which outlines policy demands Students’ Unions and the student movement will push for before the General Election on 7 May 2015.
Education, work and community are the three areas being addressed, with 10 specific points put forward for each section.
Students’ unions will be able to choose which suggestions they feel are most important in order to customise their General Election campaign.
Educational proposals for the manifesto include ‘phasing out university tuition fees and restoring public funding’, a new ‘postgraduate funding scheme’ to ‘remove financial barriers’ to further studying and the ‘restoration of resits and modular learning’.
One of the main drawbacks of university is the debt. Taking away tuition fees would definitely encourage more people to come to university
Census data shows that full-time students make up a bigger proportion of the electorate than the swing required to change the 2010 outcome.
There are 197 parliamentary seats with a majority of ten per cent or less, meaning that these seats would require a swing of five per cent to change hands.
Students hold the key to the next general election and we will be making sure they use it
First year English student, Kayleigh Fletcher, told Impact: “One of the main drawbacks of university is the debt. Taking away tuition fees would definitely encourage more people to come to university.”
NUS National President, Toni Pearce, said: “Students hold the key to the next general election and we will be making sure they use it.
She also highlighted the importance of each of the three areas discussed in the manifesto, recognising that “students are not single issue voters and do not have single issues”.
Paying students on work experience is a great incentive. It would encourage us to find prolonged placements in the real working world
A further set of proposals for work include ‘enforcing legislation’ so that all students on work experience for more than four weeks are ‘paid the minimum wage’ and there is support for the development of a ‘National Student Enterprise Scheme’, making it possible for students to set up their own businesses.
Kaitlin Barlow, a first year Nursing student, commented: “I think paying students on work experience is a great incentive. It would encourage us to find prolonged placements in the real working world”.
Community proposals also include ‘lowering the voting age to 16’ in order to validate the opinions of younger students and granting ‘free bus travel for all 16 to 19 year olds’ to prevent transport costs from hindering attendance.
NUS polling from August 2014 showed that 73 per cent of students are now registered to vote, compared to only two thirds in February 2014.
Tamsin Parnell
Image: Andrew Moss via Flickr
