Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

As you may have gathered from glancing at our front page, last week The Mancunion conducted a poll of students to gather how well they knew our Exec team. The results were staggering, with 95 per cent unable to name the team and almost half of those polled unable to name a single member. On top of this 65 per cent did not know what the Exec team do for students.

This week has seen breaking news that students are having to share single bedrooms in Warwick as the university cashes in on an influx of EU students, revealing yet another frightening example of the trade-off of student welfare in favour of a marketised education system.

We have also seen prominent figures in the NUS criticise their own leadership over the ongoing anti-Semitism controversy.

Just in case this was not enough, at the end of last week it was announced that University tuition fees are set to rise above £9,500 for all students, with further plans to rank universities into three Olympic style groups of gold, silver and bronze.  Only universities achieving these rankings will be able to raise their fees alongside inflation.

Not only does this leave the future uncertain for students wishing to go to university, as if the uncertainty of Brexit was not quite enough, it could result in students from disadvantaged backgrounds opting for lower achieving universities if the fees are less than the top ranking.

In light of the volatile nature of national and student politics currently, students knowing who represents them and what they can do for them is crucial, and the current ambivalence needs to be addressed.

Our union voted in their first senate to not hold a referendum on leaving the NUS, but if 95 per cent of our student body are unaware of who they are, and 65 per cent unclear on what they do, how truly representative was that vote? What is clear is that a lot more needs to be done to engage students in the workings of the Students’ Union, and as their response to the article highlights, they are working to try and achieve this.

Also included in this issue is a feature on pages eight and nine, looking into how the university deals with mental health. The article highlights some of successes of the system, but brings to light many issues which still need to be addressed to ensure the health of our students.

We will also be providing our own analysis of the Labour Party conference on page 11 this week, asking whether Labour can sell ‘21st century socialism’. Next week our Labour party conference commentator will also be reporting back from his time at the Conservative party conference, from a student perspective.

Although it may sometimes seem it, it’s not all doom and gloom, and we have plenty in the issue to lighten the mood. For example, turn to Food & Drink this week to find a recipe for a delicious and authentic Spanish omelette; what could possibly be better to lift the mood than that?