student debt

Education is in troubled times. From tuition fees being trebled and student support being cut, to loans and EMA being scrapped and ruthless marketisation ravishing academic rigour, students are bearing far more than their ‘fair share’ of austerity. Things look set to only get worse, with the forced academisation of all schools, attempts to exempt universities from FOI’s, and talk of fees being allowed to rise even higher. Students need to get organised and active like never before.

This is why the Green Students’ Campaign, with its fresh-faced new committee, are gearing up for action.

The GSC is an official campaign of the Young Greens of England and Wales and, constitutionally, our role is to: “provide a link between Young Green students and the student movement by coordinating campaigns, building strong links with relevant grassroots student organisations and encouraging and supporting Young Greens get involved in and stand for election in their Student Unions, the NUS and relevant grassroots organisations“.

As in so many other areas, the Greens have an excellent radical policy platform for education and its time to turn that into some powerful activism.

Our first challenge is to make an impact at the upcoming NUS conference, so to this end we’re putting out a survey asking Green students who we should endorse for the officer elections, as well as organise a get together at conference for green delegates to discuss how we might vote on various policies and to understand the processes at NUS conferences a bit better.

Our survey is also there to get a feel for exactly what green students need from us – as you can see from above we have a lot of ideas, but we want to make sure our work stems from what people on the ground are telling us. The survey is just a few short questions and will help direct us a lot over the following months, so please take a couple of minutes to help us help you!

Now is the time for students to reclaim their education – never have we needed to more, but never has the potential for action been greater.

Students across the country have shown their power through campus activism, particularly divestment movements in recent years. Powerful lobbying organisations like the Student Assembly and NCAFC have mobilised many in our generation, building strong campaigns and communities.

Technology too, in particular social media, is increasingly lending itself to mobilising activists and reducing barriers to organisation and participation.

We have an opportunity, through the Green Students Campaign, to engage in these actions and challenge the system to deliver the education we deserve.

Let’s join the fight.

The Green Students Campaign survey can be found here.

The Green Students’ Campaign committee so far consists of; Chris Jarvis (co-convenor), Campaigns & Democracy Officer at UEA Students’ Union and Campaigns Co-Ordinator on GPEX; Jamie Copp (co-convenor), Cardiff University Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy MSc; myself (Bradley Allsop), political psychology masters student and founder Northampton Young Greens; James Honke, political science and sociology student at UoB, co-convenor of Birmingham Young Greens and Andi Dawson, Tidworth town councillor.

There are still a couple of spots to fill on the committee, so please do get in touch (click here for our Facebook page and here for our Twitter, or email us at: gscc@greenstudents.org.uk) if you’re interested in joining us and would like to know more!