Since completing the Undergraduate ParliaMentors programme in 2011 I completed a Masters degree and started working for the National Union of Students (NUS).
I joined NUS in October 2012 and started my current role as a Research and Policy Officer in the Further Education team in August last year. This is a really interesting position which involves researching what students in Further Education think about the Government’s reforms to post-16 qualifications and issues such as the quality of careers advice.
Since 2010 NUS has run an interfaith project, looking to improve the experiences of students of faith in Further and Higher Education. The project has developed considerably since its inception and now employs two full-time members of staff to run a variety of different national initiatives. This project also works closely with Three Faiths Forum, bringing together national student faith organisations with interfaith organisations to share ideas and build relationships.
One of the most successful areas of NUS’ current work is their ‘Interfaith Initiatives’ fund, which is now in its second year. It enables students’ unions or societies to apply for grants of up to £1000. They must use this money to run activities which encourage engagement between faith societies, increase understanding amongst students about different religions and beliefs and increase dialogue and collaborative action.
This year 24 students’ unions or societies applied for the money and 18 students’ unions or societies were successful in their application. Of these 13 were from Higher Education and 5 from Further Education.
The events which the unions or societies ran were very varied but many of them focused their activities on national interfaith week in November. The ideas which they came up with were really creative and have in many cases had a lasting impact in terms of improving faith relations on campus.
Leeds University Students’ Union has 13 faith societies plus an elected officer position of ‘Faith rep’. This Faith rep asked each of the 13 societies to nominate a person to join one unified committee. From this the committee planned a series of events using the money they had bid for. These included ‘speed-faithing’ and a joint Friday prayer. This was the first time all the societies had come together and communicated in such a positive way.
Buckinghamshire University Students’ Union organised an interfaith clean up. This involved students of faith, non-faith and community leaders collecting litter outside places of religious worship. They then all met together to have a ‘mini cultural buffet’ in the students’ union. This initiative was very successful and received local press coverage.
NUS also runs training for students of faith. In November NUS took part in a joint initiative with FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies) called ‘I will lead the way’. This was a leadership training event designed to give Muslim women the skills and confidence to stand for election in their union or society, or lead change in their wider communities. It was a really inspiring event which comprised of interactive workshops based around the core skills and values of 'belief', 'communication' and 'campaigning'.
This is just an example of two areas of work which NUS is currently involved in. Please get in touch if you would like more information about any of NUS’ work.
By Anna Connell-Smith. If you have been involved in any interfaith work on campus then we would love to hear about it! Please contact [email protected] to get in touch with Anna.
I joined NUS in October 2012 and started my current role as a Research and Policy Officer in the Further Education team in August last year. This is a really interesting position which involves researching what students in Further Education think about the Government’s reforms to post-16 qualifications and issues such as the quality of careers advice.
Since 2010 NUS has run an interfaith project, looking to improve the experiences of students of faith in Further and Higher Education. The project has developed considerably since its inception and now employs two full-time members of staff to run a variety of different national initiatives. This project also works closely with Three Faiths Forum, bringing together national student faith organisations with interfaith organisations to share ideas and build relationships.
One of the most successful areas of NUS’ current work is their ‘Interfaith Initiatives’ fund, which is now in its second year. It enables students’ unions or societies to apply for grants of up to £1000. They must use this money to run activities which encourage engagement between faith societies, increase understanding amongst students about different religions and beliefs and increase dialogue and collaborative action.
This year 24 students’ unions or societies applied for the money and 18 students’ unions or societies were successful in their application. Of these 13 were from Higher Education and 5 from Further Education.
The events which the unions or societies ran were very varied but many of them focused their activities on national interfaith week in November. The ideas which they came up with were really creative and have in many cases had a lasting impact in terms of improving faith relations on campus.
Leeds University Students’ Union has 13 faith societies plus an elected officer position of ‘Faith rep’. This Faith rep asked each of the 13 societies to nominate a person to join one unified committee. From this the committee planned a series of events using the money they had bid for. These included ‘speed-faithing’ and a joint Friday prayer. This was the first time all the societies had come together and communicated in such a positive way.
Buckinghamshire University Students’ Union organised an interfaith clean up. This involved students of faith, non-faith and community leaders collecting litter outside places of religious worship. They then all met together to have a ‘mini cultural buffet’ in the students’ union. This initiative was very successful and received local press coverage.
NUS also runs training for students of faith. In November NUS took part in a joint initiative with FOSIS (Federation of Student Islamic Societies) called ‘I will lead the way’. This was a leadership training event designed to give Muslim women the skills and confidence to stand for election in their union or society, or lead change in their wider communities. It was a really inspiring event which comprised of interactive workshops based around the core skills and values of 'belief', 'communication' and 'campaigning'.
This is just an example of two areas of work which NUS is currently involved in. Please get in touch if you would like more information about any of NUS’ work.
By Anna Connell-Smith. If you have been involved in any interfaith work on campus then we would love to hear about it! Please contact [email protected] to get in touch with Anna.