NUS new elected president named Toni Pearce

    

      

NUS new elected  president named Toni Pearce

university correspondent(wp/guardian)::: 

NUS has elected Toni Pearce, the current vice-president for further education, to replace Liam Burns as president this summer.

Pearce, who will be the second NUS president to have studied at college rather than university, says she'll put further education (FE) back on the agenda.

"Higher education and further education students face many of the same problems – from student finance to the lack of affordable accommodation, we should tackle these together."

"We've started to really prioritise the work that we do for FE students. A few years ago making a campaign like further education loans a priority on the national agenda would have seemed a bit odd, and we might not have done it. We've come a long way."

Pearce, who had the backing of outgoing president Liam Burns, won a 57.8% share of the votes.

She beat competition from Vicki Baars, the most left-wing candidate (28.7%) and Peter Smallwood, a rare Tory candidate (12.4%). The election's protest candidate, an "inanimate carbon rod", which was represented by UCL student Sam Gaus, withdrew from the race on Tuesday morning.

Pearce will use her time as president to campaign for a new postgraduate funding system, a replacement for education maintenance allowance (EMA) and better pay for apprenticeships. She also plans to campaign for a single Ucas system for further and higher education.

But a national demonstration will not help achieve these goals, she added: "This year is about returning to campuses and reconnecting with students."

In his last conference speech delivered as president, Liam Burns also warned that demonstrations aren't the only way to lobby government.

Burns was criticised following last November's demonstration, with many claiming he had failed to fight the trebling of tuition fees. Speaking at the NUS national conference yesterday, he said: "If you stand on this stage and claim that we should demand free education, living grants for all, we will win nothing."

Pearce has been the NUS vice-president for further education since 2011 and was president of Cornwall College Students' Union between 2009-11. The only other NUS president to have come from a further education background is MP for Rochdale, Lorna Fitzsimons, who was president from 1992-4.