NUS UK is proudly member led

Through Democratic Spaces, elected representatives and Member Assemblies, our member students' unions shape our priorities and campaigns across the UK.

Our Elected Leadership

NUS UK is led by seven Full-Time Officers (FTOs), elected by members within each Democratic Space to serve a two-year term.

These FTOs are responsible for delivering on the campaigning priorities agreed through our Priority Setting Process.

Working through our Member Assemblies, FTOs help set NUS's political and campaigning priorities. They are also empowered to make decisions on urgent priorities in consultation with representatives from the Member Assemblies.

You can read more about our current FTO team here.

Who can stand to be an FTO?

Any student, apprentice or sabbatical officer from an NUS UK member students' union in each Democratic Space can stand for election.

Democratic Procedures Committee

Each Democratic Space elects two students to serve on its Democratic Procedures Committee (DPC).

DPC members are elected for two-year terms and play an important role in ensuring that NUS's democratic processes are fair, transparent and accessible.

The DPC is responsible for:

• Supporting the delivery of each Democratic Space's Priority Setting Process and other democratic decision-making activities
• Ensuring that all priority-setting and democratic processes are conducted in line with the rules and procedures of the relevant Democratic Space.

In September 2026, NUS UK started a full review of its democratic procedures. For the 2026-28 term, DPC will be responsible for consulting with members on our internal procedures.

Current DPC vacancies:

• NUS Cymru: 2 vacancies
• NUS England: 1 vacancy
• NUS Scotland: 2 vacancies
• NUS-USI: 2 vacancies
• Liberation Collective: 2 vacancies

Nominate yourself to be a Member of DPC here.

NUS Reps

One of the key ways that member students' unions participate in NUS democracy through the NUS Reps system.

Each member students' union appoints NUS Reps to represent their students within the relevant Democratic Space.

NUS Reps play a key role in:

• Voting in elections for Full-Time Officers and Democratic Procedures Committee (DPC) members
• Making final decisions within Priority Setting Processes
• Taking part in NUS campaign activity, regional campaign days and other opportunities to influence change throughout the year
• Acting as the main point of contact between NUS and their students' union on democratic and campaigning matters

If you are interested in becoming an NUS Rep, get in touch with your students' union directly. 

Members can register their NUS Reps here.

Rep Entitlement

For each of the four nations, the number of Reps each member can appoint depends on the number of student members they have, known as the Rep Entitlement. You can read more about how each Democratic Space’s Rep Entitlement is calculated in each of the rules below:

• NUS Cymru Rep Entitlement
• NUS England Rep Entitlement
• NUS Scotland Rep Entitlement
• NUS-USI Rep Entitlement

Click here for guidance on selecting NUS Reps and a template role profile.

Liberation Collective Reps

Each member can appoint up to five Liberation Reps, with one representative for each of NUS' liberation groups:

• Women's Students
• LGBT+ Students
• Disabled Students
• Racialised Students
• Trans Students

You can read our guidance on appointing Liberation Collective Reps here.

Members can register their Liberation Reps here.

The Priority-Setting Process

Our priorities are set dynamically - these aren't just priorities for NUS UK, they represent the priorities of the whole student movement.

Below, we set out an example of the overall Priority Setting Process that we currently use, but each Democratic Space is free to flex their approach in consultation with their members and DPC. 

• Full-Time Officer priorities: each of the seven Full-Time Officers will bring their own insight and information about what is important to our members 
• Member Submissions: as part of the event registration process we will also ask member to submit priorities and insight into what Members think our priorities should be 
• Member Insight: through our relationship building with NUS Reps and elected students’ union officers we regularly collect information about what is important to each of members, looking for themes and insight 
• What Students Think: our regular insight survey gathers insight from individual students through our members to provide us with data-led insight 
• Supporters: through our campaigns and calls to action we're able to see what issues are most important to our members, and which priorities are most likely to gain wider support

NUS can't work on everything - to make it through the Priority Setting Process we need to be able to demonstrate how the Priority benefits students or students' unions, and furthers the purposes of our member students' unions. Where we know that something is important to students, but we can't work on it directly, we'll identify an appropriate partner to help us.

Member Assemblies

Each of our Democratic Spaces holds an annual Member Assembly.

Member Assemblies use collaborative, inclusive, participative and deliberative methods to co-design our priorities and feed back on our progress towards existing priorities. Because the priorities being set are for the whole student movement, the Assemblies also co-design approaches and plans for delivering with members. 

Members can send students, sabbatical officers or other representatives to take part, with numbers determined by the capacity of the venue.

You may notice that the language changes depending on which Democratic Space you are engaging with. This is because each space is autonomous and is able to flex to meet the needs of its membership, in consultation with its NUS Reps and DPC.

Member Assemblies in 2026/27

• NUS Scotland: 11-12 November 2026 | Register here
• NUS-USI: 17-18 November 2026 | Register here
• NUS Cymru: 25-26 November 2026 | Registration opens soon
• NUS England: Early 2027 | Details coming soon
• Liberation Collective: Early 2027 | Details coming soon

Decision Making

Following each of the Member Assemblies, final plans for each of the Spaces are shared with the registered NUS Reps for final decision making through our online voting portal.

We will publish Decision Making rules for each of the spaces shortly.

NUS UK Turnaround Review

In September 2026 we have begun a root-and-branch review of NUS UK's operations, including our democratic procedures and priority-setting process. We'll be engaging with our members throughout the year to collect thoughts on how we can change and improve our processes. If you'd like to get involved, please email [email protected]