Hey folks,

Greetings and welcome to the wonderful world that is Newcastle University from your resident NUSA Education Officer! "What the bollocks is an education officer, and more importantly, why the $*&# should i give a $*&# about it?" I hear you ask. And I will reply in an unoffended tone, given that I remember what it was like to wander round the brennan room five times on my first day, wondering why the bloody hell everyone kept telling me the book shop was "right over there" when clearly it wasn't (until I saw the sign pointing downstairs saying "bookshop").

Basically NUSA is like your src at school except that it actually does stuff - and the education officer is the person who is voted in to look after - surprise! - education issues that affect students. Education issues could mean funding for tertiary education, course and staff cuts, issues to do with the unionisation of students and provision of services on campus (see the article on voluntary student unionism on pg dodedo). Yeah, all that stuff you want to run smoothly so you can pass your courses, do your courses (not be shipped off to another, way less wonderful uni), and get on with the business of eating, paying the bills, drinking and well, just surviving the day to day grind. But mainly drinking. Or not.

So that said, who is your education officer this year? That would be me. A third year arts student majoring in politics and also doing some economics and history. I got involved with NUSA and the education action group (the NUSA ed collective) by deciding one day that the attacks on the tertiary education system were occupying too much of my head space not to be doing anything about it. I wandered into NUSA the next day and voila - here I am six months later writing this article. What I can say with honesty from this experience is that it is NOT hard to get involved!

Last year the eag spent most of its time fighting the evil monster that is 'voluntary student unionism' - this sounds ok huh? Voluntary unionism? Surely that's a reasonable pair of words to put together, a reasonable proposition for any modern union or association, right? Actually, so called vsu is very clever use of language. A long time ago, it was decided that all students should belong to a union. That's because UNU is not like a union in the traditional sense - and that's where the 'clever' use of language is deceptive. UNU makes it possible for you to have bars on campus, shops open when you need them, cheap access to sports and gym facilities, child care on campus and a whole range of other things that are catered to your needs as students, not dictated to by the whims of the market - all because everyone pays a fee and contributes - sound reasonable? This situation is referred to as universal student unionism. Sort of like a local government tax that services a community, which is essentially what a uni is (everyone say "awwwwww!"). A small amount of the fee that everyone pays also went to the students' association - NUSA  - of which you are not obliged to be a member, but which provides funding to the many awesome clubs and societies, and political representation for students on a whole range of issues. There's more about this later in the mag (pg dodedo) but basically, although students fought the legislation pretty damn hard, and managed to generate a lot of media attention in the process, with the government controlling the senate anti-student organisation (vsu) legislation could not be put off forever - it got passed on the last sitting day of paliament last year.

So this year will be a radically different one to the usual - after first semester, no universal unionism. But rest assured! NUSA and eag will still be around, albeit in radically made over form. The focus this year will be on awareness of the importance of unionism for uni students and also on regional funding. Although Newcastle recently had regional funding removed, given that it is the only university in the region, catering to a wide range of courses, fighting this - one of many - funding cut has become a focus.

So that's the run down on eag, my role, our place in NUSA, and the general state of the nation - all in less than 800 words - woohoo. I now expect that education activism will become your life and that you will donate every spare waking moment to us. Really. Alternatively, if your keen, or perhaps vaguely interested, you could have a chat to us at the stalls during o week or pop into NUSA, approach the front desk and have a chat to myself or one of the other intelligent* looking specimens in there and see what we're up to and how you can be a part of it all, this wonderful world that is Newcastle Uni.

Cheers,

Meg Clement

Education Officer, 2006
Newcastle University Students' Association 

*please read as 'awake'