University of Nottingham. Students' Union

Nottingham University Students Association was established in 1878 to stem the decline in attendance of the university extension scheme in the town. The association aimed to encourage fresh interest in the scheme by bringing students closer together and providing them with a forum at which to discuss the management of the scheme. The association was remodelled in June 1882 following the opening of University College Nottingham in 1881. The stated aim of the new association was to further the 'social and intellectual intercourse of students at the college'. New rules were drawn up, accommodation was found for the association in college premises and the first recorded meeting of Nottingham University College Students Association was in March 1884.

In its early years, the association organised debates, lectures, discussions, tea and coffee nights, soires, and trips to Oxford, Cambridge and Stratford Upon Avon. Other activities, such as student magazines and sport clubs, were maintained without association involvement. The association's activities were gradually limited to organising Saturday evening social events and it ceased to exist in 1909. In 1903, when the college received its charter of incorporation, a Students Representative Council was created comprising elected representatives from each department of the College and three members of staff acting as president, chairman and treasurer. The council took over the main duty of organising student life and safeguarding student interests. It was replaced in 1913 by the Students' Union.

The union was designed to promote unity, corporate responsibility and interaction between students. Its executive committee consisted of representatives elected by union members in the four faculties in proportion to their numbers. Subscription was voluntary, increased if the members were involved in sports, and gave admission to all existing athletics clubs and affiliated societies. A modest subscription to the union was made compulsory in 1920. By the charter of 1938, a union president, was permitted to sit on the college Court and the 1948 charter increased union representation on the Court to three. The union occupied three common rooms in the Trent Building from 1928 until 1953 when it transferred to the newly opened Portland Building.

During the 1965/1966 session, the union was invited to introduce items of business to the Senate's Library Committee and Committee of University Halls. In May 1968, the union was permitted representatives on several professional advisory committees including the Careers and Appointments Board and the Committee for Military Education. In the same month, the union's president elect became the first undergraduate to address the Senate, his subject being the proposal to create a disciplinary structure for the university. During that year, pressure grew from the national Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals and the Students' Union to widen student involvement in university governance.

In 1969, a Senate sub-committee was set up to receive union submissions and this was followed in the same year by the introduction of a Senate Board at which six student representatives could sit. In 1971, a student treasurer became the third union sabbatical officer, and the president and past-president were invited to the unreserved parts of meetings of the Industrial Working Party and the Quinquennial Estimates Committee. By the end of the year, following the transfer of reserved business from Senate to faculty boards and boards of studies, union representation was finally secured on the Senate. Incorporated changes to the Statutes and Ordinances in 1974 also permitted student representation on these boards.

The 1994 Education Act made membership of student unions voluntary and required universities to ensure that their unions operated in a fair and democratic manner and were financially accountable. The constitution of the union was subject to Council approval and a code of practice was to be observed by the union. In return, the union acquired a higher degree of autonomy and representation. In 2000, the union had two representatives on the university Council, and nine on the Senate. Membership of the union rose from about 300 in 1913 to 23,000 in 2001.

From the guide to the Records of the Students' Union of the University of Nottingham, 1878-1968, 1878-1968, (The University of Nottingham)