"The point is how we make students care when they are already juggling so many other aspects of their lives which are all priority number one. This was our first challenge when we were confronted with demo2010 – yes, the rise in fees is important but actually for those students currently at University this will not affect them so how can we make them sit up, take notice but more importantly get involved.
We tackled the challenge head on and addressed it in two ways. The University had decided to cut a massive proportion of its bursary fund, 4.8 million pounds just a mere drop in the ocean for an institution with 25,000 students fee income but actually this would then impact on 62% of LJMU students 52% of which were home students. LSU were keen not only to raise awareness of this dramatic and deep cut to our students but also help the University identify exactly what students spend their bursary on (as they had no clue…) Not only did we have over 1,500 students fill out a postcard to Vince Cable demanding a National Bursary Scheme; action on the ground was heightened with an online petition, video and photograph campaign, students were telling fellow students about the impact this would have on them.
The second, like many other institutions Liverpool John Moores was forward-planning for the critical future of HE and has suffered from multiple course closures from Politics, Geography to Languages. They even took the dramatic steps to suspend course intakes at the last minute when NSS results weren’t satisfactory. This was poorly communicated to students and there was outrage on campus. LSU supported the revisited communication of course closures and emphasised the importance that the University to talk to students about how the Student Experience would be affected.
But why was this really important? Well, these cuts did affect our students they could see the relevance and all a sudden demo2010 wasn’t just about fees it was about the LJMU student experience and the cuts in services, bursaries, courses that would affect both their experience and time at University – the result over 600 students from Merseyside fighting for the rights of ALL students at demo2010."
Lily Rumsey, President Liverpool John Moores Students' Union