What we've done

Edinburgh University Students’ Association has been around for some time and over the years it has achieved some great results for students. Below are some examples of the work of your Association over the past couple of years.

Right to Rent

The campaign aimed to stop the Scottish Government putting in place limits on the number of HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy- typically flats with three or more people in them). This would be hugely damaging to students who often live in HMO flats. The campaign, which was launched in April, had over one thousand students sign the online petition in the first day. EUSA gave students the chance to show MSPs and local councillors the strength of feeling amongst students across the city, successfully knocking the proposals back for now.

Got better lighting for the Meadows

In December 2006 EUSA lobbied the council to improve lighting on the Meadows for the hundreds of students who cross it everyday. Eventually the council agreed to a £12,200 refit and improvement of the Meadows lighting. EUSA will continue work to make Edinburgh a safer city for students.

Exam Factor

Getting good feedback is an essential part of learning – and one element of this is knowing what you’ve written in an exam! In 2007 we launched a campaign to get Schools to release students’ exam scripts. The number of postcards already signed by students, shows how important an issue this is to students.

Library opening hours

It’s the weekend and you’ve got a big deadline coming up, lots of reading to do for a tutorial…but the library’s not open when you most need it. Know the feeling? We’re lobbying for longer library opening hours.

Cash Back

We’ve all been charged ridiculous amounts for going overdrawn by a few pounds on our bank accounts or for an unpaid direct debit. That is why EUSA ran a campaign to inform students that they can get their cash-back. Most of these charges are illegal and your association has managed to save students hundreds of pounds.

Variable Top-Up Fees

Edinburgh University Students’ Association was at the very front of the fight against the first introduction of variable fees in Scotland. The Heart Beat Away from Top-Up Fees campaign brought the Executive at the time within a handful of votes. We will continue to lobby the new executive for an improved national settlement for students.

KB Bus

With the study patterns of students constantly evolving, the services that support us don’t always keep up. For students based at Kings Buildings flexibility in when and where to study is massively dictated by the KB Bus and the earlier it stops running, the earlier everyone has to leave KB. EUSA secured extended operating hours for the bus, allowing students to spend an extra hour in the library focusing on their degree.

Just A Number

Feedback has been getting worse year on year and EUSA has been pushing the issue to improve the whole academic experience. EUSA launched the Just A Number campaign, giving students across the university the opportunity to rate their courses for feedback. Later in the year we provided the support to get responses from final year students on their experience of their time in Edinburgh as part of the National Student’s Survey (NSS). Edinburgh came out bottom in the league for feedback amongst all of the UK’s universities. The demand from EUSA to get this sorted are being listened to and everyday our reps are working at every level of the University to help turn the situation around.

Fighting Against raising The Drinking Age

In March this year, we noticed a proposal from the SNP government to raise the drinking age to 21 and immediately took action. We formed the Coalition Against Raising the Drinking Age in Scotland (CARDAS) and the organisation rapidly grew signing up other organisations from across Scotland. CARDAS hit the national headlines almost every week, effectively discrediting the dodgy evidence on which the proposals were based and gaining the support of all other major political parties, who united to block the proposals.

EUSA Teaching Awards

In response to the University's NSS results in 2008/9, where the University came last in the UK for 'Assessment and Feedback', EUSA campaigned to recognise and reward teaching within the University in the same way as research is incentivised through funding and career promotion for academic staff. To highlight good teaching that is already taking place, and show that this is undervalued, EUSA organised Teaching Awards, with students nominating individuals, courses and departments for awards. 2,704 nominations were received for 621 members of staff, 191 courses and 62 departments. As a result, the University is considering introducing teaching excellence as a criteria for promotion, has expressed its support for the awards and the profile of teaching in the University has been raised. Students' Unions around the country are also following our lead in setting up their own award schemes. The EUSA Teaching Awards will be an annual event to maintain the high profile of teaching in the University, and continue to argue for teaching excellence to improve the Edinburgh University student experience.