- About us
- About colleges
-
Corporate services
- Corporate services
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Data Protection/GDPR
-
Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment: How we support members
- Introduction & Employment Helpline
- Absence & Sickness Management
- Contracts and T&Cs
- Disciplinary, Capability & Grievance
- Employment Briefings Library
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- General Employee Relations & HR Issues
- Holiday/annual leave related
- Industrial Relations
- ONS reclassification related guidance
- Pay & Pensions
- Recruitment
- Redundancy, Restructuring & TUPE
- Safeguarding/Prevent
- Workforce Benchmarking, Surveys & Research
-
Governance
- Governance
- Governance: How we support members
- Representation
- AoC National Chairs' Council
- National Governance Professionals' Group
- Code of Good Governance
- Student Governor Inductions
- Regional Governors Inductions & Conferences
- External Governance Reviews
- Resources
- Guidance
- Hot Topics
- Governance Briefings
-
Projects
- Projects
- Get Involved!
- Projects: How we support members
- Resources
- The 5Rs Approach to GCSE Maths Resits
- Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) Programme
- Creating a Greener London – Sustainable Construction Skills
- Erasmus+ EXPECT Project
- Digital Roles Across Non-digital Industries
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Provider Support Programme
- The Valuing Enrichment Project
- Higher and Extended Project Qualifications
- OfS - Higher Education Social Prescribing Project
- Pears Foundation Youth Social Action Programme: Phase 2
- T Level Professional Development (TLPD) Offer
- T Level Curriculum Macro-Sequencing
- Contact the Projects Team
- DfE Multiply Capability Support Programme
- Creative Arts in FE 2024 – developing student voice through creativity
- Resources/Guidance
- Sustainability & Climate Action Hub
- Partnerships
- Honours Nomination
- Brexit
- Recruitment and consultancy
-
Events and training
- Events and training
- Events
- T Level & T Level Foundation Year Events
- Events and training: How we support members
- Network Meetings
- Annual Conference & Exhibition 2023 Resources
- Previous Events & Webinars
- In-House Training
- Senior Leadership Development Programme
- Introducing AoC's Early Career and Experienced Middle Managers Programme
- Sponsorship & Exhibition Opportunities
- Funding and finance
-
Policy
- Policy
- Meet the Policy Team
- Policy: How we support members
- Policy Areas
- Policy Briefings
- Submissions
- Policy Papers & Reports
- AoC Strategy Groups
-
AoC Reference Groups
- AoC Reference Groups
- Adults (inc. ESOL) Reference Group
- Apprenticeship Reference Group
- Technology Reference Group
- HE Reference Group
- 14-16 Reference Group
- Mental Health Reference Group
- 16-18 Reference Group
- SEND Reference Group
- WorldSkills Reference Group
- HR Reference Group
- Sustainability & Climate Change Reference Group
- EDI Reference Group
- Opportunity England
- Research unit
-
News, campaigns and parliament
- News, campaigns and parliament
- General and mayoral election resources
- Comms advice and resources for colleges
- AoC Newsroom
- AoC Blogs
- Work in Parliament
- AoC Campaigns
- Briefings
- Contact the Communications, Media, Marketing and Research Team
- Communications, media, marketing and research: How we support members
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Home
- News, campaigns and parliament
- AoC Blogs
- Don’t lose your voice – why we all need to make sure we are registered to vote
Don’t lose your voice – why we all need to make sure we are registered to vote
In under a month’s time, hundreds of thousands of young people across the UK will be able to vote in their first ever General Election.
To me, being able to vote is something too important to be ignored. Everyone aged 18 and over has this democratic right and should use it.
But there’s one thing that needs to be done first – registering to vote. Until recently, the registration was done by one person – the ‘head of the household’, who would confirm the details of all eligible voters in that house. But under legislation brought in by this government, it is now for each individual to register themselves.
A new system presents challenges, and there is still a great deal of work to do to ensure everyone knows that they need to register to vote. The National Union of Students (NUS) is really pleased to be working with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the Electoral Commission to publicise these changes.
And with the deadline to register to vote in only a matter of days, we are encouraging all college students to register to vote and to encourage their friends to vote too, through the #regafriend campaign.
General Elections don’t come around very often. But when they do, they give everyone the opportunity to have their say and vote on the issues that affect them. And it is critical that students have their say.
During the leaders’ debate a few weeks ago, the final question was particularly pertinent – what will the next Government do for young people in Britain? There are a whole range of issues that impact students – from the cost and availability of transport, tuition fees in further and higher education, and the many barriers that exist for young people entering the jobs market, such as unpaid internships and zero hours contracts. It’s really important that we are all able to have our say on these issues on 7 May.
By polling day, around 200,000 students in colleges will have turned 18 and will therefore be able to vote. And with an election which everyone is saying is still too close to call, our votes can make all the difference. So, make sure you use your vote and have your voice heard. Register to vote today!
For more information about NUS’ general election campaign, go to newdeal2015.uk and check out the #generationvote and #regafriend hashtags on twitter.
Toni Pearce is the President of NUS.