National Union of Students’ NSS boycott and UMSU lecture shout-outs
This is just a quick reminder about the NUS boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS). As you will know, the government plans to use NSS results in its disastrous new Teaching Evaluation Framework (TEF), which seeks to create an internal market whereby universities compete with each other for the right to increase tuition fees. UCU and NUS both oppose the NSS in its current flawed form and agree that it is a waste of time and money that could be better spent on education. Just as NUS has given UCU strong support in our campaigns for fair pay and job security for university staff, so now UCU will support NUS in its fight against using the NSS to justify further tuition fee increases.
If the University of Manchester Student Union (UMSU) contacts you this coming semester and requests that you permit students to make an announcement before or after one of your lectures about their TEF/NSS campaign, please acquiesce. Please also consider making use of the attached UCU poster and leaflet and read the following joint NUS/UCU statement on the NSS boycott: https://www.ucu.org.uk/boycott-the-nss#resources
(N.B. The university’s Director of HR has written to the UMUCU officers saying that, so long as students ask permission and learning is not disrupted, the decision regarding whether or not to allow shout-outs is at the discretion of the member of staff teaching the class and that staff can also alert students to the UMSU campaign in other ways.) If you would like a member of UMSU to give a shout out ahead of your lecture, please contact the UMUCU office and we’ll forward your request.
Resources are available at the following links:
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