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...................................................................................................................PLUS > MENTAL HEALTH DAY UN SOCIETY CAMPAIGNS LGBT BLACK HISTORY WEEK NOVEMBER LISTINGS

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...................................................................................................................thevoice

...................................................................................................................KINGSTON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNION ISSUE No.3 NOVEMBER 2012

Plans have been outlined for a reduction in the size of the student body following statistics that revealed a high amount of students are failing to complete their courses.At KUSU’s Big Student Meeting, Kingston University’s Vice Chancellor, Julius Weinberg, announced that the decision comes following Kingston’s relatively low course completion rate, amongst other issues. Mr Weinberg announced that a staggering 30 per cent of students at Kingston fail to complete their course, a figure considerably higher than the national average of 21.6 per

cent as published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency earlier this year.“Some of that rate is because of what we get wrong, and some of that is because we’re admitting people who aren’t ready and prepared for University,” Mr Weinberg said. Mr Weinberg went on to describe the admissions process this year as challenging - a state of affairs he believed to be the result of a combination of factors, including the rise in student fees and changes in government regulation of student number control.

Due to this, he added, the University had been forced to implement a ‘tariff floor’ for the clearing process this year. When questioned by students on how he proposed to approach the issue, he answered: “We need to work closely with schools and colleges to get students up to the right standard.”While keen to make clear the difficulties the University faced, Mr Weinberg was unable to provide insight as to what the decision meant for the University’s commitment to providing greater opportunities for participation in higher education which he promised after his appointment in 2010.

UNIVERSITY TO BE DOWNSIZED...................................................................................................................

A KUSU PUBLICATION FOR STUDENTS BY STUDENTS

Students have banned Nestlé products from being sold at all Student Union outlets across KU campuses.Upon hearing evidence of its unethical business practice at KUSU’s Big Student Meeting, students voted in favour of boycotting the brand.Policy proposer and new Ethical and Environmental Officer, Michael Toy said: “I have known about the unethical business practices by Nestlé for some time, and was keen to involve the Student Union in the national boycott when I decided to run for the KUSU officer position.”

Michael presented the motion to over 200 students, which called for the banning of all Nestlé products at KU food outlets. In his speech Michael said: “I believe that as an ethical and progressive organisation we, KUSU, should take a step forward and join the 73 other student unions in the country supporting this action as we all have a global responsibility towards the protection of people suffering violations of human rights.”The motion asked that all Nestlé products be banned on

the grounds that there is evidence of human rights abuses committed by the company in less economically developed countries.All Nestlé products including Kit Kat, Aero, Smarties and Milky Bar will now be removed from KUSU outlets, and the Student Union will also lobby the University to join the boycott.By joining the action and advertising the reasons behind it, Michael hopes that more awareness can be raised, broadening the impact the Student Union has and hopefully inspiring groups of students to personally avoid Nestlé.

TAKE A BREAK FROM KITKAT

By Blair Mitchell

STUDENTS VOTE TO BAN ALL NESTLÉ PRODUCTS IN KUSU OUTLETS

By Chris Jutting