By Meghan O’Neil
Please note that this article was written before Cardiff Students’ Union announced that the referendum on NUS membership had resulted in a majority for remaining
As the Referendum for whether Cardiff Students’ Union should remain affiliated with the National
Union for Students approaches its important to keep in my mind which Universities have recently
disaffiliated?
`The NUS UK stands for the National Union for Students, and it represents university and college
students across the UK with the aim to achieve national change for students. The NUS fights for
student movements, accessibility for education, championing LGBTQ+ rights and to stand up against
powerful corporate interests.
It also allows Cardiff students to contribute to the national student voice and the NUS to speak up for us in the Senedd, Westminster or the education sector.
Last year at the Annual General Meeting students did not confirm Cardiff Students’ Union’s affiliation
to the National Union of Students. So, the union’s Board of Trustees made the decision for a
referendum to take place to confirm or end the Student Union’s affiliation with NUS UK.
Voting opens on Monday 9th March 2026 at 10am and will close on Thursday 12th March 2026 at 6pm. With the results to be released on Friday the 13th of March 2026.
But is this becoming a trend for Russell group universities to disaffiliate from the NUS?
In October 2025, Cambridge University students voted by a margin of nearly 500 votes to disaffiliate
from the NUS, in which students also voted that the SU should actively campaign for disinvestment
reported Varsity, Cambridge’s student newspaper.
The University of Liverpool became the latest Russell group to disaffiliate from the NUS with 86.82%
voting for the Guild to leave NUS UK, they join York, Glasgow, Imperial and St Andrews in their
disaffiliation from the union.
Current universities that are going through the process of holding a Referendum for disaffiliation are
UCL, Kings College London, LSE, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester and Cardiff University. This would
mean that if these four universities decide to disaffiliate 15 of the 24 Russell Groups will no longer be
members of the National Union for Students.
But what will happen if CUSU leaves the NUS? If the student body decides to leave, then our NUS UK
membership will end on the 31st of December 2026.
If students vote to stay, then CUSU will remain as a member for the next three years unless a petition of students trigger an early referendum. How will this actually impact us? The CUSU will no longer have to pay its affiliation fee of £30,700 to NUS UK, however we will still be a part of NUS Charity, but we would pay £15,330 instead of £7,670 to NUS Charity.
It is important to remember that there are two parts to the NUS, which are NUS UK and NUS Charity
and by leaving NUS UK does not mean we leave NUS Charity.
Being a part of NUS UK allows Students’ Union to give input into the direction of NUS UK and influence national policy and campaign.
Whereas NUS Charity provides general support and advice for Students’ Union as well as training and
networking opportunities.
One of the main reasons for disaffiliating from NUS UK is that in July 2025 72 Sabbatical Officers, 10
legal, academic and human rights bodies and 111 student societies/ groups wrote an open letter
demanding that the NUS take action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The NUS then threatened these sabbatical officers with suspension and released a statement that didn’t act on any of the calls for an ethical divestment campaign, disclosure of potential ties with complicit regimes or rescinding the IHRA definition of antisemitism.