(A41 Sir Clive Granger 18:30-19:30)

Transcription

1 Minutes for 431 st Union Council: Thursday 2 nd March 2017 (A41 Sir Clive Granger 18:30-19:30) Panellists Present: George Pittman, Philippa Simpson, Belinda Namuddu, Nafi Talukder, Adam Hewitt, Harriet O Sullivan, Anneliese Amoah, Alessandra Agostini, Daniel Reilly, Yiming Chu, Ying Chew, Alexandra Vaughan, Andrew Wilhelsen, Georgina Morris, Lauren Swann, Henna Shiwani. Officers Present: Ismail Sadurdeen (President), Beth Massey (Education Officer), Becky Player (Activities Officer), Katie Leach (Equal Opportunities & Welfare Officer), Abel Hartman (Community Officer), Moonisah Iqbal (BME Officer). Proposers of motions: Elizabeth Kellaway, George Shaw. Other attendees: Tom Leach, Thomas Jones, Michael Millar, Gareth King, Cerys Atkinson, Betty Owoo, Jacob Collier, Joe Eastwood, David Owen. Facilitator: Laura Bealin-Kelly (LBK). Staff present: Lucy Wake (acting as stand-in Democracy Coordinator), Lee Mundell (Administrative Assistant). Staff observing: Ella Hubbard (Representation Coordinator), Sarah Gosling (UoNSU Chief Executive). *** UNION COUNCIL WAS QUORATE WITH 16 PANELLISTS PRESENT. Motions for the 431 st Union Council: Minutes: *** 1. Give UoN Students a Voice: Integrate Voter Registration into Student Presented by Elizabeth Kellaway. 2. Access campaign to lobby the University to provide more financial aid to refugee and asylum seeker students Presented by George Shaw 1.0 The facilitator (LBK) introduced the meeting. 2.0 Motion 1: Give UoN Students a Voice: Integrate Voter Registration into Student Presented by Elizabeth Kellaway. 3.0 Member of the panel said they are an international student and have no voting rights. Seeing as this motion does not affect him, should he abstain?

2 3.1 LBK explained to the panellists that they can either vote for or against the motion, but there is no option to abstain. 3.2 The panel asked: What does the student enrolment system do? 3.3 EK said that you enrol online each year you opt in or opt out. This motion would help make the process easier. 3.4 The panel asked what makes it difficult at present. 3.5 EK said that students are confused that they can be enrolled at university with their term time address, as well as being enrolled at home. As a result, students are failing to register. 3.6 The panel asked if this motion includes students on placement. 3.7 EK said she is not aware of this. They could work to include it. They would not like to see students on placement excluded. 3.8 LBK asked the panel if they have any more questions. 3.9 The panel had no more questions at this time LBK asked the floor if they have any questions AH (Community Officer) voiced his support for the motion and said he is looking to help with the implementation of the campaign and voter registration on campus. He said there are concerns around Sheffield University s model, regarding data protection, but they will look at what kind of models can be designed to overcome these issues Comment from the floor: If you are living in Lenton, or you are a first or second year student living outside of University accommodation, then you might have had a visit from someone from Nottingham Council with an Ipad trying to get you registered. I don t know how much this is costing the council, but if this motion is implemented then the council can use that money for other things Observer on the floor said that from what he has heard, some international students do have voting rights in the UK, especially for local elections. He said he doesn t know if this is for every country or just those in the Commonwealth LBK asked the panel if they are ready to vote The panel asked about the data protection rule EK said she does not know much about this. She said she is aware that the Vice Chancellor is concerned there is a risk that everyone s data might be used against them. If this was approved, students would have the choice of opting in or opting out, otherwise the SU would be breaking data protection laws. It is also about protecting the reputation of institutions AH said there are few models by which voter integration can be done. There is a question about whether some of them break the data protection act. He said they are not clear on this, but added that there are other models which do not break data protection. He said this motion is about finding out how to work within this section of the law and protect the interests of students, and make sure students are registered to vote.

3 3.18 The panel asked that in the event the motion passes, will students receive more information so they can make informed voting choices. Lots of students do not originate from Nottingham and know little about local issues EK said it is up to students to take an interest in local issues. The University will help them A member of the panel pointed out that you do not need a National Insurance number in order to vote LBK asked everyone if they had any more questions There were no more questions 3.23 LBK asked the panellists to vote The result was: For 14 Against 2 Motion passed. 4.0 Motion 2: Access campaign to lobby the University to provide more financial aid to refugee and asylum seeker students Presented by George Shaw 4.1 The panel asked GS to explain how the waving of tuition fees for five refugees would be achieved and what would it be based on. 4.2 GS said that if you look at some other universities models, such as the University of Bristol, for example, they have given full scholarships to asylum seekers and those with DLR, and they included fees of up to 14,000 to cover accommodation and other education costs. He said he feels the University has enough money to pay for the tuition fees for at least a 3 year course. It is only for 5 refugees and they do not feel it is an unreasonable request when other universities with lesser endowments are actively doing more to make provision for refugees and asylum seeker students. 4.3 The panel asked if that means refuges should apply for scholarships. 4.4 GS said yes. They have not thought about the details of this at present, but he believes there should be a separate scholarship for refugees and asylum seekers can apply for to avoid paying the tuition fees. 4.5 The panel asked what DLR stands for. 4.6 GS said it stands for: Discretionary Leave to Remain. GS explained that when someone arrives in this country they are not immediately granted asylum seeker status. DLR represents an intermediate state whilst they go through the application process. During this period they can still be kicked out of the country at any time. Once they are granted asylum seeker status this becomes more difficult. So this is about noticing the subtle differences in the asylum seeker application process. 4.7 The panel asked how refugee students are categorised within the University. 4.8 GS said that refugee students are considered home students, which is great, but there is an issue with asylum seekers, who are classified as international students, which he said

4 they find illogical and quite distasteful, especially when you consider that an economic migrant, who decides to come and study here of their own free will, is charged the same amount as someone who had been forced to flee to avoid persecution. He would like that to change. There are issues with that, in regards to their refugee application, but he feels they can circumvent that and it will be fine. He would like to classify refugee students as home students, as it can take two years for their application to be processed. If they can t work and they can t access higher education, or student loans, or student finance, it can be very difficult for them otherwise. GS said they are just trying to reduce the financial barriers standing in their way. 4.9 The panel asked if these people are currently in the UK GS said yes. STAR teachers teach English to refugees and asylum seekers in the city centre. He said they work closely with the Red Cross. They are helping us drawer up a list of several local refugees who have the qualifications already. There is about refugees and asylum seekers in Nottingham, and that number will have increased significantly since he started with STAR in There is obviously a group there who would be eligible The panel asked if there is an age limit GS said that obviously you have to be 18. But there is no upper age limit The panel asked what would happen in the event that an individual with a DLR were to receive their bursary but lost their right to remain in the UK and had to return to their country of origin. What would happen to the money they have received? 4.14 GS said it is a good question and a valid point. He said there would have to be some kind of screening process. Perhaps the University could be involved in evaluating the merits of their appeal to stay in the country. That is a final detail that needs to be looked at. Over 60% of asylum applicants are granted leave to stay here. When that number is reduced down to those who can and want to apply to the University, then the numbers refused the right to stay here and who have been granted a bursary is going to be negligible. But it is definitely something they need to look at with the University The floor asked whether GS said the University currently offers a bursary of GS said yes, the University currently offer the Maycock-Whileman Scholarship, which offers a bursary of The same member from the floor said they find this figure ridiculously low for people from these situations when the University s core bursary is up to GS agreed and said that one of the conditions of the scholarship is that the refugee has to be liable for the 9000 tuition fee. It doesn t really make sense. He said there appears to be a disconnect between what the University is offering and what they expect the student to pay IS (President) expressed his support for the motion and said it is realistically achievable and as a Russell Group Institution we should be doing more to help refugees and asylum seekers.

5 4.20 There was comment from the floor that having spoken to the University when investigating issues of paying staff a living wage, the University has the funds available to allocate to effectively waive these tuition fees BP (Activities Officer) expressed her support for the motion. She said it is very achievable. She added that from what she understands it is something the University has been looking at and which they want to move forward with The panel asked if there is a cap on the number of refugees/asylum seekers who can receive the bursary GS said that he believes 5 is a good starting point, but it is just the beginning, really The panel asked if this would be solely for undergraduates or any degree GS said that some universities do offer it to undergraduates and postgraduates, and he thinks that is something that will be discussed in any negotiations, because, if it is for postgraduates as well, then that will cover mature students The panel asked whether it would affect their asylum application with the Home Office GS said that his knowledge of the application process is far from encyclopaedic, however, he does not think it will affect their asylum application, because it is up to the University s discretion who can or cannot apply for the student grant. It certainly shouldn t prejudice the Home Office against any application The panel asked if it would be better if all universities adopted the same policy to share the burden GS said each university will decide upon their own stance at their discretion LBK asked if there were any more questions There were none LBK asked the panellists to vote The result was: For 15 Against 1 Motion passed. 5.0 LBK asked if there was any further business. 6.0 No further business was raised. 7.0 LBK brought the meeting to an end.