Sheffield Occupation

Friday 3rd December

Sheffield Occupation

Sheffield Students’ Union supports the occupation of the Richard Roberts Auditorium on the grounds that:

•    It is peaceful
•    We agree in principal with the occupiers aims
•    The occupation does not disrupt lectures and other student activity and
•    The occupation continues to have broad student support across campus

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Sheffield's Rally for the Future of Education

Friday 3rd December

Sheffield's Rally for the Future of Education

With the vote to raise tuition fees taking place in Parliament on Thursday 9th December, we are rallying on Wednesday 8th December to show the level of opposition in Sheffield to these proposals. Such proposals could price students out of University, and apply cuts to Higher Education which could cause enormous damage to the city.

We'll also be highlighting the importance of local MP, Nick Clegg keeping his pledge to vote against higher fees.

Meet at Sheffield Students' Union on Western Bank at 12.00.

We'll be holding an 'Unfair Fun Fair', musical chairs, coconut shy and free hot chocolate and cakes, with 'free education' to be confirmed!

We're then marching down to Sheffield Town Hall and asking concerned citizens to join us there at 12.30 for a rally against the proposals and for an education system which is available to all.

Please visit our Facebook page fo rmore information and to agree attendance: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165423110161565

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Commons Vote on Tuition Fees: What YOU Can Do

Friday 3rd December

With the Commons vote on the tuition fees cap only a week away, now more than ever we need unity within the student movement. We encourage all students to do as much as they can within the next seven days to put  pressure on the government.

This means signing the Right to Recall petition: Right to Recall petition, lobbying your local MP and taking part in the next day of action on Wednesday 8th.

We are planning a lobby of Parliament on 9th December and we want as many students to come as possible if their MP is a Liberal Democrat, Conservative or their home constituency is in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. Check to see if your home MP is on the 'List of MPs' (also available on the Cuts are Nuts campaign page) then please e-mail tom.hastings@sheffield.ac.uk or Rachel.steyne@sheffield.ac.uk with your details if you are available to lobby your MP on Thursday 9th.

If you don’t know who your MP is you can find out at www.theyworkforyou.com.

The Students' Union are also planning a lobby of Parliament on 9th December and we want as many students to come as possible. If your MP is a Liberal Democrat or your home constituency is in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, then please get in touch!

The Students’ Union will arrange transport there and back if we have enough students willing to lobby their MPs.

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Right to Recall

Friday 19th November

The 'Right to Recall' petition is focused on keeping as much pressure as possible on both Sheffield and home MPs to keep promises made before the General Election over tuition fees.

In a matter of weeks Parliament will vote on whether to raise tuition fees. This is why we need to keep up pressure now, and we need YOUR help!

Print the petition off and get as many of your housemates, friends and family to fill it in!

• Right to Recall petition

IMPORTANT: This campaign is not about targeting one political party or politician. The Students’ Union is campaigning to pressure all politicians to vote against a rise in tuition fees.

Once you’ve done this bring it back to the Student Officers corridor, on Level 4 of the Students’ Union, above Coffee Rev.

We need thousands of signatures as quickly as possible, your help and support would be much appreciated.

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London Student Fees Protest 10.11.2010

Thursday 11th November

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Sheffield Students join with 50,000 to protest against cuts to Higher Education

Thursday 11th November

Over 600 students from the University of Sheffield joined others from around the UK to demonstrate against proposed cuts of 40% to Higher Education funding.

Josh Forstenzer, President of Sheffield Students Union said “Students from Sheffield have joined with 50,000 students, lecturers and members of the public to take part in the biggest student demonstration in a generation.” He continued, “At stake is the future of our higher education system for generations to come. Today’s students were demonstrating, and are campaigning, to protect the rights of future students to a high quality affordable education system that is accessible to all, not just the wealthy.”

The cuts to higher education, announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review are colossal: 40% overall, including an 80% cut to the teaching grant. Universities are the drivers of economic growth and innovation, and these cuts come at a time when the rest of the world is investing in higher education.

The march, organised jointly by NUS and UCU covered a route pre-approved by police from Horse Guards Avenue to a rally outside the Tate Britain where protestors heard from UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, NUS president Aaron Porter and TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady.

There have been some widely reported violent outbreaks at the Conservative Party Central Offices at Millbank. Commenting on these Josh said “We organised transport for over 600 Sheffield Students and we demonstrated peacefully along with the vast majority of others. We are very disappointed that a small minority of the 50,000 on the march took action which detracts from the key issues in this debate. The key issues being that the governments announced cuts, coupled with the proposed increases in tuition fees means the effective privatization of our Universities, and will put barriers in the way of many future students accessing a high quality higher education.”

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Ticketholders - Meet 6.45am, 10.11.10, Bar One

Tuesday 9th November

Important Info: National Demo ticket holders

Thursday 4th November

Thank you for very much for buying a ticket for the National Demo.

With nearly 600 tickets sold, it’s fantastic to have so many of you on board with us. After Wednesday's announcement it’s more important than ever for us be in London on Wednesday to make a stand.

Here are some very important points about the day which you need to know:

Tickets

We’ve had an extremely big demand for tickets, with hundreds sold in just a few weeks. If, for whatever reason you cannot attend, please take your ticket back to the Box Office where you will be able to get a refund, by Monday 8th November 2010.  We will be setting up a reserve list, so we need to know a.s.a.p how many places we can offer.

This will ensure somebody else can buy your ticket once we sell out and that there are no empty seats or half-full coaches.  The Students’ Union has put lots of time, resources and money into subsidising places, so it is crucial that we take as many people as possible.

The Day

Departure : 7am
Every ticket holder needs to come to the Glossop Road entrance of Bar|One at 7am on Wednesday 10th November. To ease the pain of getting up early, Bar|One are kindly offering us some free sausage sandwiches.

To gain entry to Bar|One, you must have your ticket with you.

There will also be lots of lunch packs, sandwiches, tea/coffee, drinks on sale, which will be MUCH cheaper than London, so it will be a wise buy.

March and Rally : 11.30am – 2.30pm

Depart back to Sheffield : 3pm

All details about the march and rally will be circulated in ‘March Packs' on the day with lots of important information.

Sheffield will be marching as one contingent, with the rest of the North. In honour of our sporting colours, please try and wear ‘Black’ and ‘Gold/Yellow’ so we can differentiate ourselves from everybody else, showing how strong the Sheffield voice is.

For any further questions, please e-mail tom.hastings@sheffield.ac.uk.

It’s shaping up to be an extremely important day and we thank you for pledging your support and look forward to seeing you, 6.45am in Bar|One on Wednesday 10th November 2010.

In unity,

Your Students’ Union Officer Team

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Time to keep your promises!

Thursday 4th November

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Student ‘Cuts are Nuts’ campaign heads to London

Thursday 4th November

UNIVERSITY of Sheffield students are saying ‘Cuts are Nuts’ as they head to London for a national protest agai nst proposed increases in university tuition fees and major cuts in budgets.

Sheffield student are particularly angry with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, whose Sheffield Hallam constituency is home to many of the university’s students.

Nick Clegg, along with all other Liberal Democrat MPs signed a pledge prior to the General Election stating that they would vote against any increase in university fees.

Last month, however, the Lib Dem leader wrote to his MPs urging them to consider abandoning that promise to oppose fee increases. In a letter to his members, Clegg said he was painfully aware of the promise made by all sitting MPs but insisted reforms to higher education would be fair to students and promote social mobility.

Now Sheffield’s students are even more determined to make their voices heard as they join a national protest in London against proposals to increase tuition fees.

Sheffield Students’ Union is aiming to take 600 students to the rally in the capital on 10 November.

Josh Forstenzer, President of Sheffield Students’ Union said: “We expect to see a 40% cut to universities’ budgets. This will mean fewer contact hours, less student support, course closures, staff redundancies and no expenditure on labs and libraries.

”It is also likely to mean an increase in tuition fees, pricing future generations out of higher education.

”But this is not inevitable. We must show the government this will be the generation that could bring the country out of recession and a well funded higher education system is absolutely necessary.

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Message from NUS President Aaron Porter

Wednesday 3rd November

Hello there,

I just wanted to send you all a quick message this morning about the forthcoming announcement. I have so far had a very busy morning running around Millbank getting our message out on the airways and think I have probably covered 50% of BBC local radio stations in the last hour alone – but *my voice alone is not enough* and the impact that you can have in getting the message from our movement out to every local and regional media outlet is crucial.

As you know David Willetts will make a statement at 12.30pm today and all indications are that the news is bleak. We will be responding with a full analysis of the proposals once we hear the details – but for now we are trying to get as much media coverage as possible – and I know that many of you have been working hard to cultivate relationships with the local media – so wanted to share with you our latest press notice which it would be great if you could adapt to reflect your local circumstances and use to get more local and regional coverage for this important issue.

If you need any support with this please contact lewis.cooper@nus.org.uk in NUS HQ and he will be more than happy to offer advice.

We have also created a new version of the Lib Dem video [see above] which includes some rather interesting words from Vince Cable and David Willetts - http://www.youtube.com/user/nusuk#p/u/0/41CdehgkSc8 anything you can do to promote this far and wide would also be great.

Additionally don’t forget today’s social media hit at 12noon. #demo2010 www.demo2010.org.uk – a *great opportunity* for us to come together in advance of next weeks demo and get our message out.

In the mean time, let’s keep up the pressure, #WeWillMarch

In Unity,

Aaron Porter

National President

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NUS responds to Government plans to triple tuition fees

Wednesday 3rd November

Responding to Government plans to raise tuition fees to £9,000 the National Union of Students (NUS) today warned that students would receive nothing other than other than higher debts in return for higher fees to foot the bill for cuts.

The comments came as Universities and Science Minister David Willetts prepares to make a statement to the House of Commons at 12.30pm.

The proposals would require Liberal Democrat MPs, who pledged at the General Election to vote against any rise in tuition fees, to break that commitment if they were to pass through Parliament. NUS warned that many applicants would be at risk of being priced out if the proposals passed.

Thousands of students, lecturers and others will march through London on Wednesday November 10 for the NUS and UCU Funding Our Future march to protest against cuts to higher education. Impromptu protests have sprung up university towns and at public appearances by Liberal Democrat MPs.

Aaron Porter, NUS President, said:

"The Government have completely failed to explain what students would receive in return for higher fees other than higher debts. Students and their families will simply not be fooled by rebranding of plans to triple tuition fees to foot the bill for funding cuts. They will also be justifiably believe that requirements on access, employability, quality or the student experience would be just as toothless as they are now."

"These dangerous proposals risk pricing students out of elite universities and saddling a generation with huge debts before they have even got on their bikes to find work. If Liberal Democrats were to keep the pledges they made to voters then proposals to railroad a tripling of tuition fees through Parliament would be dead in the water.

"Just four years ago, fees trebled and in that time there has been no improvement in student satisfaction, no improvement in quality, no improvement in staff-student ratios and no improvement in contact time. Universities haven't been value for money for fees of £3,000 a year, and they certainly haven't justified an increase, let alone a three fold hike.

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Sheffield Says "Cuts are Nuts!"

Tuesday 19th October

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Reject the Browne Review

Monday 15th October

View our slideshow about what the Browne Review recommends, what it means to students and what we can do about it. Send a letter to your MP using our online interface and join us on our National Demo to London on the 10th November.

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Sheffield students make it on to BBC Look North

Friday 15th October

Following the release of the Browne Review on Tuesday, students from Sheffield Students' Union, led by members of the officer team, march on Nick Clegg's Sheffield office. BBC North Look reports the event.

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No more broken promises?

Thursday 14th October

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What is the Browne Review?

Tuesday 12th October

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What we're going to do about Lord Browne's Review

Tuesday 12th October

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Why Lord Browne is wrong?

Tuesday 12th October

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NUS President Aaron Porter's call to action

Monday 11th October

Aaron Porter talks about the Browne review, which is looking to increase tuition fees, the national demo and what students can do to campaign against cuts and higher fees.

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Keep your promises Nick

Friday 8th October

Nick Clegg's video from the NUS.