NUS Active Political Leadership Training

Me, Tom, Oggy and Sparky went on NUS "Active Political Leadership" or APL training this week. I had so much fun and have come back really motivated, with many new ideas for the year ahead.

We received training in the role of Students' Unions, the history of student representation and building strong unions.
We attended workshops in public speaking, politics inside the institution, lobbying and negotiating, organising and campaigning and finally handling the media (which included me being grilled for what seemed like hours by Tom Marley- a journalist aided by spin doctor Chris Griffin from the Courtauld Institute- scary stuff!)

We also watched presentations on the injustices of the higher education system and NUS governance reform (both to follow in later blogs!)

The course culminated in what is probably the most intense training exercise I have ever experienced- Fibchester- where in teams we became the sabbatical officer team of the imaginary Fibchester Students' Union. In the space of 3 hours I had to meet with 2 Pro Vice Chancellors, write a governance review, lobby the university to improve its accessibility for disabled students and try and save the unions commercial services from a university take over.

STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS!

After Fibchester I feel like I can get through anything thrown at me! The best part of the training though, was that it was a brilliant opportunity to network and meet other sabbatical officers from all over the country as well as some of the NUS National Executive Committee (NEC). If we work together we can win together and I for one can't wait to start! Above is a picture of me with the lovely Aaron Porter, NUS Vice President (Higher Education).