Nearly 50 per cent of UK undergraduate students didn’t attend Freshers Fair, and less than three per cent can name the President of the National Union of Students.

- some of the findings in a survey revealing just how low student involvement in their unions is.

The survey, conducted by Opinionpanel on behalf of London Student, interviewed 1019 students at 130 Higher Education Institutions, representative of the UK HE population in terms of gender, year group and university type, online between 21^st and 23^rd of May.

15 per cent of students said they had used none of the student union offerings the survey asked about.

The student services used most were Freshers Fairs - attended by 55 per cent of undergraduates, and commercial outlets such as bars, shops and cafés, used by nearly seventy per cent of students.

The survey also asked students if they thought they could name the President of the NUS. 93 per cent admitted they couldn’t name her. Of the 68 students out of 1019 who thought they could name her, only 25 (2.5 per cent of the sample) went on to select Gemma Tumelty from a selection of four other names invented by London Student.

Gemma Tumelty said: “Sadly, it is impossible for the NUS President to engage on a one-to-one basis with every student in the country. That is why members of each individual students’ union are put forward to represent the views and interests of their fellow students on a national level.

Students’ unions are constantly looking for new ways to engage their members in the democratic process. But political apathy does not just affect students - most people do not know who their local MP is, for instance.”

Imperial College Union President Stephen Brown said the results raise questions about the impact the NUS has on students.

“I’m not at all surprised,” he told London Student. “While the president of the NUS is the public face of students, it’s very difficult to get their identity down to students on the ground. The name recognition isn’t a massive issue for me, but at the same time it does raise questions about the work of the NUS. It’s very seldom that it will impact on students who aren’t involved with unions, who will then have cause to have note of it.

“If I felt that NUS officers were doing something incredibly useful and directly relevant to the students I represent, I’d take on some responsibility for communicating that on, but unfortunately those occasions are very few and far between.”

Further results show only a small minority of students joined a society or sports club at their union, while an even smaller fraction had used academic advice services or attended a union campaign.

One in sixteen have attended their union’s general meeting - and half of those never went back.

Less than one in five said they’d joined a sports club, and 27 per cent joined a society.

Six per cent used their union to find a volunteering placement, and 15 per cent used an academic advice service.

Andy Fernando, VP Education and Welfare at UCL Union said union meeting attendance was a “case of where and when. If it’s on a rainy day in the middle of nowhere they might not want to come. It’s not that they’re selfish, students sometimes aren’t willing to involve themselves in things that don’t affect them.”

Imperial are holding a referendum to disaffiliate from the NUS and the end of term, just one year after they joined.

Front Page Box, News
Gemma Tumelty, NUS, Opinionpanel