Edinburgh’s student unions are supporting an extraordinary conference to debate the reformation of National Union of Students' (NUS) core constitution in an attempt to modernise the organisation politically, financially and structurally.

The majority argue that reform is drastically needed in the NUS; the organisation is in huge financial debt, spending more money on bureaucracy than on the entirety of National Union campaigning. The core constitution has remained unchanged since the NUS was established in 1922 and consequently fails to reflect the diversity of the student population today, or the issues they raise.

Josh MacAlister, President of the Edinburgh University Students Association told The Journal: "I am a massive advocate of the NUS and I think that Edinburgh University should sit firmly in a national movement, but things need to change.

"We have called for an extraordinary conference to radically shake up the way NUS works so that it can satisfy the ambitions of its members who want to see an effective national body that achieves tangible results.

"If urgent action isn’t taken to confront the challenges facing the national union then it will have let down future students for years to come.”

Constituent Members of the NUS have been demanding a review of the core constitution for nearly 20 years.

At the annual conference in Blackpool earlier this year, a motion was passed that the entire governance of the NUS would be reviewed. A steering committee was established, which, after extensive consultation and research, produced the White Paper, designed to provide concrete proposals on what and how to reform.

The National Executive endorses the White Paper and has explicitly called for an extraordinary conference.

Gemma Tumelty, President of the NUS, making a speech to the strategic conversation, surmised that the NUS were determined in "Reforming the way the National Union is governed. Balancing our budget for the first time in years. Committing to our strategy, and carrying it out. Campaigning, taking action and fighting for our beliefs."

The NUS governance review proposes to achieve equality, democracy and collectivism. They intend to divide policy into five key ‘zones’: higher education, further education, welfare, society and citizenship and union development. All five zones will have a committee, program and conference.

These ‘zones’ of policy will be discussed in locally-elected committee at local conferences. Similarly there will be sections for Liberation and Social Policy which will have their own program, committees and conferences.

The annual congress will debate the key issues raised by delegates from each of these segments. The decisions of congress will be turned into action by the political leadership: the Senate.

The Administration will assist in the running of the NUS as an organisation whilst the Steering Committee is designed to ensure democracy.

Both the Administration and Steering Committee will be student-led but assisted by experts in relevant fields.

Certain leftist factions within the NUS are critical of the reforms proposed. They fear that it will become less democratic as there will be no compulsory prerequisite of cross campus ballots to elect delegates because it effectively is an emergency conference.

The new proposed structure of the annual conference precipitates a move away from conventional methods of debating NUS policy. Instead of NUS issues being raised by student unions and brought to the floor, policy reports will be drawn up collectively by ‘zones’ and debated in smaller conferences before being submitted to the annual conference for ratification.

Time allocation at annual conferences to deliberate policy will be dramatically condensed and individual student involvement limited.

Sophie Buckland, an executive member of NUS, said on her blog: "I opposed the review because it’s undemocratic, cutting out pretty much any opportunity for rank-and-file students to get involved in NUS."

Many students also consider this to be a favourable amendment. Liam Burns, President of Heriot-Watt Union Student Association, told The Journal: “Having zone conferences that debate and then pass on congenital policy to Congress [the old conference] so that we don’t waste time that could be used on genuinely contentious issues will be beneficial."

The NEC has asked its constituent members to an extraordinary conference. 25 constituent members must submit the motion of calling for an extraordinary conference before the NUS can announce the event.

Gemma Tumelty cannot confirm the date but hopes to hold it on Tuesday 4 December 2007.