Lewisham Southwark College students’ union president Shakira Martin was today elected as the next National Union of Students (NUS) vice president for FE.
Trainee teacher Ms Martin (pictured) was elected by delegates at the NUS national conference in Liverpool this afternoon beating Sheffield College students’ union and NUS national executive committee member Amy Smith and Leeds College students’ union member Craig Clements.
It comes after Megan Dunn, the current vice president for higher education, won an earlier vote to become the new national president of the NUS.
Both winners will take up their full-time, paid sabbatical posts in the summer. Ms Martin replaces Joe Vinson and Ms Dunn replaces Toni Pearce.
Ms Dunn said: “Whatever government is in power after next month’s election, it won’t be easy, so we have to be ready to stand up alongside each other and say enough is enough. We need action in union meetings, university boardrooms and in parliament.
“I want to put more effort into supporting campus unions, and transforming our national movement to support the work that you do.
“I’m really proud to have been given this opportunity to build a movement around a vision for apprentices not just with a rise in the minimum wage but with a living wage.
“The end of the false choice between further education and higher education – with the focus on how someone wants to learn and what they want to study rather than what they can afford or what they are told is worthwhile.”
See FE Week edition 136, dated Monday, April 27, for more from the NUS conference.
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