Kent Union is pleased to have been awarded a ‘Very Good’ status by the National Student Union.

The Students’ Union is the first in the UK to be assessed under the new NUS quality model for students’ unions.

This quality model has been developed over the past two years by NUS to assure and improve the quality, standards and effectiveness of students’ unions in the United Kingdom.

The model covers 12 categories including Governance, Strategic Planning, People, Services and Impact. Kent Union achieved a rating of ‘Outstanding’ in 8 categorises and ‘Very Good’ in the remaining 4, on a scale of Outstanding; Very Good; Good; Accredited; Not-Accredited. The overall rating placed Kent Union as ‘Very Good’.

The NUS Quality Mark succeeds the Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative, which was established following significant funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The Quality Mark is a single management tool that interlocks with, and complements, relevant standards and codes that already exist, such as Investors in People and Investing in Volunteers.

Jim Gardner Kent Union CEO says: ‘We are extremely pleased to have achieved this level in what has been a rigorous assessment, which involved a comprehensive self-assessment process, a series of interviews with an external and independent auditor and a series of interviews with a wide range of staff and students. We believe that the report provides a strong reflection of our current strengths and weaknesses.’

The Union is in the process of developing an action plan to help ensure the organisation achieves ‘Outstanding’ within two years. The action plan will be presented at the October Board of Trustees’ meeting.