CCR TT Week 3 2026 Motions

Referendum to disaffiliate from NUS UK

This motion initiates the process for the SU to hold a referendum to decide whether the student body would like to remain affiliated with the NUS. 

Proposal  

Despite costing the SU £17500 every year, the NUS has failed to deliver for students' interests. This motion initiates the process for the SU to hold a referendum to decide whether the student body would like to remain affiliated with the NUS. 

Which of the following aims does your motion or proposal hope to achieve?  

  • Provide the views of students and a position deemed to be representative of wider students at the University of Oxford 

Conference Notes:  

  • That Oxford SU pays £17500 every year to NUS UK, a lobbying group formed from the agglomeration of around 600 universities from across the country. The Oxford SU pays extra fees for staff and student attendance of NUS conferences. 

  • That the NUS has a historic record of activism "Boycott Barclays" campaign, which helped end Barclays' involvement in apartheid South Africa in 1986, but that it no longer serves this role. For instance, in 2007, the NUS dropped their opposition to tuition fee increases, which have since trebled. 

  • That universities across the UK have recently disaffiliated from the NUS, with more tabling disaffiliation motions. SUs such as those in Cambridge, LSE and Manchester have disaffiliated, whilst referendums will be held in universities including SOAS, Birmingham and Liverpool. 

  • That the NUS Charity provides important SU support and student-facing services, and that this motion does not seek to disaffiliate from it. 

  • That Oxford SU would not be isolated upon disaffiliation: it is a member of other bodies such as the Russell Group Students' Unions network, and already has a strong relationship with Oxford’s MPs. 

Conference Believes:  

  • Despite the NUS’s historical role in student activism and representation, the NUS UK no longer adequately represents students’ interests. For example, the NUS England conference saw no voting by student sabbatical officers, and no follow up on items discussed. The NUS also banned over 70 students, who signed an open letter urging the NUS to ‘condemn the plausible genocide in Gaza’, from attending conferences. 

  • While there has been some positive campaigning around student loan reform, NUS campaigning has often been poorly organised and inequitable. Protests and meetings with MPs are often scheduled last minute, with sometimes less than 24 hours notice, which is especially inaccessible for SUs outside the South-East of England.  

  • That disaffiliation sends a clear message that student unions will not subsidise a body that is ineffective to its members, and will compel NUS UK to reform. 

  • That Oxford students' interests are better served by redirecting capacity towards bodies that demonstrably represent them, and redirecting funding to initiatives that support students, e.g: the community fund. 

Conference Resolves:  

  • To mandate Sabbatical Officers to organise a student referendum on disaffiliation from NUS UK, to be held in Michaelmas Term 2026 

  • To hold a referendum under the title “Should the Oxford SU disaffiliate from NUS UK” with responses being “Yes” or “No”. 

  • To mandate Sabbatical Officers to report back to CCR at the second meeting of Trinity Term 2026 with a more specific timeline for referenda and potential disaffiliation. 

  • To mandate Sabbatical Officers to strengthen alternative advocacy relationships, including with RGSU, in preparation for a potential disaffiliation. 

Equality Impact Assessment: 

  • Stated as net positive impact for all listed demographics