Students satisfied with SU

A survey conducted by the College View of student attitudes towards representation and tuition fees has found that 69% are satisfied by the performance of the outgoing Student’s Union.

In a year where student issues have been given a national platform, knowledge and understanding of what the union does and its approval rating is expectedly high.

However, there was some bad news for Niall McClave’s team - the survey highlights students’ beliefs that the SU is not independent. 54% responded negatively to the question, ‘Is the Students’ Union independent from the university?’

Of those surveyed, 61% were satisfied that they were adequately informed on issues and events by the SU, while only 47% believe that the union has done enough ‘to highlight the opinion of students to the Department of Education in relation to tuition fees’. When asked on the current make up of the sabbatical team, 72% indicated their desire to abolish the position of campaigns and information officer.

Of those surveyed, the majority expressed a desire to see the introduction of a separate welfare officer and education officer onto the sabbatical team.

This is normal practice in Students’ Unions across the country. Within the Institute of Technology sector, it is common to have the president acting as education officer also. Furthermore, 78% believe that if DCUSU was a member of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), then “DCU would be able to lobby the Department of Education more effectively on the issue of tuition fees”.

The survey has shown that student attitudes towards tuition fees have significantly softened, which may be as a result of the Minister for Education’s assurances that he would “family proof” any form of student contribution.

Although the survey indicates that the vast majority of students believe third level education should be free (83%), the survey also suggests that students believe that the rich, or at least those who can afford to, should pay. 72% indicated they believe that ‘those students whose parents earn over €100,000 a year should pay tuition fees’.

In relation to proposed thresholds, those questioned indicated that the limit should increase depending on the size of a family so as not to preclude any other siblings from a higher education.

The survey was conducted on 200 students across all four faculties. The method has a 95% confidence rating, plus or minus 6%, based on the student population in DCU.