York Students Vote to Reject NUS' NSS Boycott

Students at the University of York have voted, in a referendum, no to campaign to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS).  The NUS is campaigning to encourage students to boycott the NSS, suggesting that it will disrupt the government's plans to increase tuition fees.  However, campaigners on the other side say a boycott will have no meaningful impact.

The referendum question asked if the student union should "campaign for students to boycott the National Student’s Survey?".  568 voted 'No' while 379 voted ''Yes'.

The issue came under greater scrutiny at the university when, during the official debate on the issue, one of the pro-boycott panelists switched sides half way through.  Joshua Stubbs, an Education department representative, declared he had been convinced by the arguments of the 'No' side and left incumbent SU BAME Officer Sophie Flinders on her own.

A member of the 'No' campaign, Jay Edevane, told the student newspaper Nouse, "I’m very happy with the result, because a boycott would have hampered the university in making improvements. With this years NSS data, we can move forward as an institution".

Around 30 university SUs have officially signed up to the boycott, including Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick.  Others may launch campaigns in the near future. However, not all unions have held a referendum and many are yet to have made a final decision over whether or not to support the boycott.


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Lead photo source: York No Campaign/ Facebook