"Comrades, friends,
"Sasha Brydon, Secretary of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, and Regional President of the North East Scotland College Students’ Association.
"Life for students prior to the pandemic, to put it lightly, was already pretty difficult: the gig economy with its insecure work; substandard student accommodation providers, and worse private landlords; and an education system which viewed students as essentially money pinatas.
"It is often said that Covid-19 has exacerbated many of the inequalities we find in society, the plight of students is no different.
"Students, like many other sections of society, have had an awful year. The Scottish Government essentially forced a postcode lottery with their system of awarding grades, until grassroots school pupils aided by MSPs and others overturned the SQA and Scottish Government, and nearly toppled the Deputy First Minister.
"For pupils who went through the exam fiasco, they were forced on to unsafe university campuses because the institutions didn’t want to forfeit precious student halls income, separating many students from their communities and families for months; and for students who did test positive, or just have to self isolate, they were given shoddy care packages (if you can even call them that) by their institutions or halls providers.
"For College students, many of whom study practical courses such as construction and engineering, such as students at NESCol’s Altens campus in Aberdeen, their programmes of study were hollowed out due to restrictions placed on work within workshops. This places huge insecurity on students who don’t know what they’re going to do for the next academic year, or indeed when the current academic year is going to finish. For College HNC Nursing students they have also had a particularly bad year, as across Scotland they were denied Covid-19 life insurance to go on placements at NHS facilities, whereas HNC Nursing students doing the same level and course at Universities such as RGU didn’t face the same restrictions. This was brought to our attention at the Students’ Association, and we, alongside Colleges Scotland, NUS Scotland and the class reps who came to us were able to force a Scottish Government u-turn benefiting over 2000 students across Scotland. You would think there wouldn’t have been this omission, (at least I hope it was just an omission) we need these dedicated students to staff our health service in years to come.
"Additionally there was a period of disruption due to the (now resolved) national dispute between Colleges Scotland and EIS-FELA. Students at NESCol were quick to organise, and we were one of the first groups of students to voice our support to EIS-FELA within NUS Scotland. Nobody on any side of the dispute wanted the industrial action to take place, but College lecturers were forced into this position by the employers. I’m glad to see this national dispute resolved, with a victory to EIS-FELA to protect the role of the lecturer in further education. There are still a few local disputes ongoing in the central belt at one or two institutions.
"Students as a whole, whether College or University, are victims of a gig economy which relies on predominantly young people, many students have been going to work during the pandemic as retail workers or workers in fast food, including Deliveroo and others. Young people have also been blamed for rises in Covid-19 rates, but people somehow don’t see the link with that.
"Students are also victims of an education system which views them as customers and stakeholders who pay for a service, rather than people who are seeking upskilling, reskilling or pure educational enhancement. Further education receives its funding partly based on the number of students it can ferry through its programme of courses, which forces Colleges to focus on credit targets, and only paying lip-service to student welfare.
"All of this paints a pretty grim picture.
"NUS Scotland during the election has been calling on all parties to support a student guarantee, under the slogan of ‘students deserve better’ which would be:
- The right for every student to access a fully funded education system.
- The right for all students to access a comprehensive student support system.
- The right for all students to receive a safe and inclusive education.
- The right for students to be an integral part of shaping a better world.
"NUS Scotland has been key in securing millions of pounds in extra discretionary funding from the SFC and Scottish Government, and continues to be a key critical friend of the Scottish Government.
"Students, through their democratic representative organisations working nationally, can move mountains."
