www.thegryphon.co.uk @_TheGr yphon Issue 12 17/02/17
The official newspaper of Leeds University
Leadership Race Turnout decreases This year 6561 students voted in the elections for the new Student Exec Page 3
Reshaping the Music Industry St Vincent redesigns the guitar to make it more comfortable for women In The Middle, page 4
Student Exec refuse to back NSS Boycott LUU Student Exec decide not to endorse nationwide National Student Survey boycott
Six Nations Relegation? Sports debate whether the six-piece tournament needs a shake-up Page 21
Benedict Coltman The LUU student exec have chosen not to endorse the NUS’ National Student Survey (NSS) boycott, a campaign which is attempting to thwart the government’s plans to link tuition fees to teaching quality and thus raise fees around the country. Around 25 student unions have joined the NUS spearheaded boycott, including Manchester student union which joined after the Student Senate passed the motion with a majority of 90%. Other students unions have also opted out however, such as York student union, which opened the issue up to a campuswide referendum. 568 voted to opt out of the boycott, and 379 voted to join. No such vote was held at LUU, with the Student Exec deciding unanimously that the boycott was the wrong course of action. Melz Owusu, Education Officer at
LUU, said, “We as an Exec have taken the position that we do not believe a boycott will have the desired impact on the Government changes to Higher Education; rather that what it will do is very much fracture the strong relationship and standing that we have with the University, which allows us to represent students effectively.” The NSS is a survey final year undergraduates are invited to complete. The data collected provides prospective students and interested parties with independent information on higher education institutions. The National Union of Students (NUS) is leading the resistance and the boycott is also supported by the Universities and Colleges Union, a large union that represents university staff. Under the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), university fees and funding will be tied to quality of teaching. If a university meets a
‘baseline quality threshold’, it will be allowed to increase its tuition fees in step with inflation. Government projections predict that the inflationinclusive fees for the 2017/2018 academic year will be £9,250. Other projections show that fees could be over £12,000 per year by 2020. The government will rely on three measures to judge quality of teaching: NSS results, student drop-out rates, and graduate employment. In boycotting the NSS, the NUS hopes to prevent the tuition fee rise and ultimately defeat the TEF, which it opposes completely. Calls for the NSS to be boycotted are causing tensions in some universities. NSS data is compiled by Ipsos MORI, an organisation independent from universities. It therefore has respectful standing and is used on university open days to attract students. Universities have an interest in making sure that Read more on page 2
T2 Trainspotting In The Middle review the sequel of the cult classic In The Middle, page 15