Criticisms
The NUS has come in for criticism from various quarters, particularly from those students' unions who are not affiliated. Sen Ganesh, then president of Imperial College Union, said in 2002: "NUS's claim to be representative of students is not borne out by their work", especially as "the NUS is dominated by Labour students and this diminishes the ability to address student issues in an impartial fashion."
The NUS has in particular come in for criticism for the way its democratic processes are structured. Unlike individual student unions and despite the rise of online voting in Universities, NUS officers are not directly elected by students, but instead elected by delegates. This is because NUS' members are students' unions and not students.
The NUS has also been criticised for selling its 'NUS Extra Card', which offers students discounts on certain purchases, rather than confronting issues that actually affect students. Despite an NUS Policy that none of the discounts on the original free NUS card would be moved to the 'NUS Extra Card', proposed by Cambridge University Students' Union, NUS Treasurer Dave Lewis went against policy and removed the discounts from the original free NUS card.
Other critics have focussed on the organisation's perceived failure to campaign effectively on student issues such as tuition fees and prescription costs and have advocated that students and unions coordinate independently of the NUS to campaign on the national stage.
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