NUS Award Winners

The Derby College Students' Union are proud to announce that they are the official FE Students' Union of the Year 2008.

The NUS Awards 2008 are the first of its kind to recognise excellence in Students’ Union establishments across the UK and last night it was announced that Derby College Students’ Union are the FE Students’ Union of the Year.

The awards ceremony was hosted by Journalist and Broadcaster John Sergeant, at the Think Tank in Birmingham. The event gathered over twenty Students’ Union institutes from all over the country, all eager to win first place in their proposed categories.

Derby College Students’ Union were nominated last month for the award and were delighted to have made it into the final three, alongside Canterbury College and Exeter College Students’ Unions.

The award is judged on a number of key attributes, all of which Derby College Students’ Union excelled in. These included evidence of positive impact on their college’s learner involvement strategy, examples of action and quantifiable impact on students, student involvement in the forms of the number of students standing for elected officers and the number of students participating in voting in the student elections.

Drew Davis, Acting President, Nick Billinge, General Manager and Mark Rugman, Memberships Manager attended the awards ceremony on behalf of Derby College Students’ Union and were thrilled when the results revealed  that they had come first place. They received a NUS Awards 2008 trophy and £750 cash prize for their hard work and achievements throughout the year.

Nick said:

“All the achievements and ability that we have shown tonight has only been possible through working together as team to provide professional services for our members. We are really grateful for the support we have received from Derby College and think it is important that continue this level of excellence in order to be the best FE Students’ Union every year”

The judging panel were impressed with their achievements throughout the year and Lynne Sedgmore, CEO, Centre for Excellence in Leadership said:  

“The work of Derby College Student Union is clearly outstanding. In particular, the thoroughness, honesty and scope of their impact assessment is exemplary. Their community engagement, international work and student advice centres alongside their online training for course reps, for me was the deciding factor in picking them as the winners.”  

Derby College Students’ Union wasn’t the only institute in Derby to have been nominated for an award this year. The University of Derby were also finalists for the Equality and Diversity Award and the Student Unionist of the Year Award which Ben Whittaker, Vice President of Equality and Diversity, was nominated for.

Both institutes support each other in various projects and it is important that people can see that we are both committed to improving lifestyles of students in Derby and achieving a great deal for students.