The University of Birmingham Guild of Students (previously Birmingham University Guild of Students; BUGS) is the officially recognised body which represents around 28,000 students at the University of Birmingham. The Guild functions as a Student Union as per the 1994 Education Act. It is an independent organisation and not legally connected to the University. While it does enjoy a huge degree of autonomy, in practice the University has a large degree of financial and operational influence.
The Institution had its first foundations in the Mason Science College in the centre of Birmingham around 1876. The University itself formally received its Royal Charter in 1900 with the Guild of Students being provided for as a Student Representative Council. As a consequence both the Guild and the University officially celebrated their centenaries in the year 2000. Mason College had had a union of sorts with a club house opening in Great Charles Street in 1905. The Guild of Students having been provided for in the 1900 Charter was formed in 1909 as the Guild of Undergraduates, being based at Edgbaston.
The Guild possesses archives which go back to the First World War, establishing a very long tradition of what is referred to as "modern Students' Unionism". Alongside Liverpool Guild of Students, the Guild was a founding member of the National Union of Students.
The Guild of Students occupies the Union Building (often referred to as the Guild itself), situated at the edge of campus by the East Gate, for a peppercorn rent from the University. The building itself, by Holland W. Hobbiss, dates back to 1928 and has been added to and amended, most significantly in the 1950s adding a south wing and again in the 1960s building a much larger west wing. At 10,000 square metres is one of the largest Student Union buildings in the UK.
It is not known for certain why the organisation is named a Guild of Students as opposed to being named a Union of Students, in line with the vast majority of its English peers. It shares its name with five other student unions, including Liverpool Guild of Students, Exeter Guild of Students, and Aston Students' Guild.
The Guild introduced new branding as of 2007, intended to replace the previous "BUGS" brand adopted in 2000.
Read more about Birmingham University Guild Of Students: Vision, Purpose and Activities, Societies & Volunteering Projects, Government, Executive, Provision and Finances, Media Controversy, Affiliations
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