In 2022, we undertook an extensive review taking into consideration union feedback, expert advice and consultation with the education sector as well as with NUS members.

NUS Charity will revise the framework every three years to ensure it’s up-to-date, fit-for-purpose and reflective of best practice across the student movement.

Part A and B of the framework

QSU is split into two parts. Part A is a basic health check, ensuring the union meets minimum standards for organisational good health including its statutory obligations.Verification for Part A of the framework is available for free to NUS members upon request.

The Part A of the framework includes 11 areas of work. Next to each one there’s a criteria you are asked to meet and an example of the typical evidence you can submit to demonstrate that you are compliant. Compliance is a pre-requisite if you’re looking to be Part B verified.

Part B is a framework to help unions work to best practice, recognising where they are and helping them see how they can improve. This part of the framework includes 12 areas of work. It requires a more thorough self-assessment including qualitative data. You will be asked to self-asses your SU work as Good – Very Good – Excellent. The quality levels are cumulative and based on improvement - to be excellent, a union needs to meet the descriptors outlined in good and very good as well.

In this part, you get the opportunity to work with external verifiers and get a quality report that highlights the good practices in your SU, whilst also providing insightful recommendations to get you to the next level. Your QSU accreditation runs for 3 years, which allows you time to put into practice all the recommendations and see how much you’ve developed since last time you were verified.

Part B details

Verifications take place once a year (Autumn-Winter), the cost for the verification is being reviewed, but last year was £900 + VAT for your reference. 

Signups will open in early Summer, and we’ll be delivering an informative session for anyone interested in taking part this year. We'll update this space with more details soon.