How Democracy will happen at NUS Liberation Collective Assembly 2027
Our Liberation priorities for the year are set by our Liberation Collective. The Liberation Collective is our UK-wide space for students and apprentices who identify as part of one, or several of our liberation groups (Disabled, LGBT+, Racialised, Trans and Women).
Membership of the Collective is inclusive, direct, flexible and non-hierarchical. That means any student or apprentice that identifies into a liberation group can become a member and meaningfully participate in shaping the Collective without having to be elected or appointed in a specific role.
Decisions about what we campaign on will be made in open spaces where any member has the chance to participate and contribute. The process for setting priorities over the coming year is as follows:
September – November: Gathering member input
This stage will be the chance for students and students’ unions to share what the key issues impacting students from liberation groups this year are. During this time, as a Collective, we’ll be focused on listening to people’s experiences, rather than campaign action. This will be done through:
-
Monthly online members’ meetings- Any member of the Liberation Collective is invited along to these to share their experiences and priorities. Sign up as a member of the Liberation Collective to receive invites.
-
In-person workshops- We will host workshops at member SUs to hear from students directly. This is a chance for students on your campus to directly help set national campaigning priorities. If you would like us to run a workshop on your campus get in touch with Rose on rose.taylor@nus.org.uk.
-
Member priority submissions- We'll ask members to share their SU priorities for the coming year. To inform our liberation campaigning we will ask “What one thing would make the most significant difference for students from a marginalised group right now?”. Answers to this need should be based on data such as student surveys, manifesto points from SU elections or advice service data.
-
Student polling- A short survey will be sent to Liberation Collective members at the beginning of October to ask about their experiences and priorities.
NUS’ VP Liberation & Equality, elected every two years by the Liberation reps, will play a key role in gathering liberation focused priorities from members, and ensuring these are fed into the Collective’s campaign planning. From July-August each year, the NUS VP Liberation & Equality will carry out 1:1s with members as part of this process.
The VP Liberation & Equality may also have their own campaign priorities for their term. It is likely that these will align with the priorities of the Liberation Collective, as they will be informed by student experience, however where they differ the VP Liberation & Equality will take responsibility for providing opportunities for Liberation Collective members to take part in their campaign(s).
November – January: Co-design workshops
We will hold co-design workshops in all four nations to identify trends and refine priorities. These workshops will be open to any student or apprentice who’s part of one or more liberation group. During the workshops we will go through the priorities and themes that have emerged and begin to build these into campaigning priorities.
February – July: Campaign actions
Members of the Liberation Collective will be invited to a UK-wide in-person Member Assembly in February 2027 to look at the Collective's campaign priorities, build campaign momentum, share ideas and continue to grow our community. At the Assembly, students will review the proposed campaign priorities from the co-design workshops, and refine them into no more than 5 Liberation campaign priorities.
From February onwards there will be specific campaign action groups for students to get involved in, and concrete campaign actions that come out of these.
Where the campaigns and/or campaign actions involve government influencing, NUS’ VP Liberation & Equality will take a lead on these. They will ensure advocate to the government on behalf of the Collective, and where possible bring members of the Collective into spaces where they are able to directly influence the government themselves.
