Students in the Red - NUS' national day of action - saw scores of students showing up to support a change in the higher education funding system.
On Merseyside, students from Liverpool Guild, John Moores and Liverpool Hope joined forces for the day. Their ‘big red bus’ drove a team of activists around the city to local sixth forms and further education colleges where they talked to students about the failings of the funding system.
Balloons and bridges
Further south, students in Wolverhampton spent time ‘balloon popping’ with their Vice Chancellor and, in the north east, students from Durham, Northumbria, Newcastle and Teesside hung a banner on of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
NUS National President Wes Streeting joined throngs of students at an event organised by Leeds University Students’ Union, which saw students march from their campus to Millennium Square, rolling a giant globe to symbolise the UK’s position in a global context.
Making a stand
Wes said students were making a stand because the current system is completely unfair.
"The government needs to stop tinkering with grants and fees every year and recognise that the entire higher education funding system is unstastainable."
In Hull, to signify student debt as ‘baggage’ students hung luggage labels with their debt written on around the Union. The total amount of debt will be added together and a totaliser will be put on the Union roof.
In Exeter meanwhile students dressed in red and rallied in front of the Tiananmen Square monument on campus. In order to demonstrate the debt levels at their institution, students created paper chains of debt around the square.
Flash mobs
Straying away from the more traditional campaign tactics, students from Cumbria were engaged in a flash mob activity. Stirling University used the day to promote the inequalities of the systems across the UK by running activities in the universities atrium.
Aaron Porter, NUS' Vice President (Higher Education) decided to join students from Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin and UEA to march around Cambridge with giant Broke & Broken signs.
Students at Kent rounded off the day of action with an evening of fun, fireworks and funding. Buildings were illuminated in red light and a giant fireworks and a funding ‘catherine wheel’ was on display.
Not over yet
Whilst the day of action has come to a close, the campaigning isn't over yet.
A range of events have been planned for the coming weeks on many campuses, including Manchester Met, Gloucester, Bristol, Bath and Staffordshire. This month will be finished off with a demonstration in Nottingham, organised by Nottingham Trent Students’ Union on 30 November.
Broke & Broken
Earlier this year, NUS launched its Broke & Broken report at the Higher Education Summit, a detailed report on the current system's failings.
NUS' focus now is to identify and campaign for fairer alternative funding models, and we would like to hear your views on how we can achieve this.