Episode 46: From fighting fees to supporting good governance

In this latest edition of the podcast I talk to Aaron Porter, a consultant extraordinaire and floating higher education all rounder. We explore at some length Aaron's years as a student leader in NUS, first as Vice-President at a time of strong partnership working with politicians and HE agencies, then followed by year as President in 2010-11 during what was one of the most turbulent of periods for the sector and the student movement. Following a change of government and publication of the Browne report the issue of higher tuition fees became a major political issue, with NUS at the heart of it all.

Having spent the summer and early autumn touring students' unions with the aim of building towards a November national demo, Aaron and everyone else, including the Metropolitan Police, was overwhelmed by the scale of the turnout on the day. Whilst largely peaceful a small minority turned towards more aggressive tactics, roundly condemned by Aaron as President at the time, and this led to many subsequent debates and divisions. As Aaron rightly puts it, the consequence of all of this was that the argument ended up being about the tactics of protest rather than about the response to the most significant HE policy change for years. 

Looking at more recent issues we discuss Aaron's involvement in the important task of developing and training student members of university governing bodies before considering the wider challenges of governor development and governance within universities. Finally Aaron comments on what he describes as the 'tyranny of politeness' and the impact of this on university operations - we need to be more direct and full and frank in our debates and in our dealings with regulators and government he argues.

Whatever you think about the proposition this is certainly a polite and civilised discussion.