Open University Students Association in Scotland

The Scottish Governments announcement today that part-time students in Scotland will, from 2013 be able to apply for full fee support, bringing them into line with their full-time colleagues, is very warmly welcomed by the OUSA. Marianne Cantieri, OUSA President said, "I am delighted to hear this news; I know that the Open University in Scotland has, for a long time been in discussion with the Scottish Government on this issue. Added to this, the members of OUSA in Scotland put a lot of time and hard work into their excellently prepared response to the 'Post 16 Consultation - congratulations and thanks to all of you - it was worth it!" In his statement, Michael Russell, Education & Lifelong Learning Secretary for Scotland not only announced parity for part-time students with full-timers, but also went on to announce the future introduction of Statutory Access Agreements as part of the Post 16 Bill, which should enable many more students to access Higher Education. Marianne went on to say that, she applauded the proposals put forward today and looks forward to seeing them put into practice.

We are about to publish the Candidates' answers to the questions selected from the Virtual Hustings Questions Forum. You can read what the Candidates have answered to those probing questions by following the link below. Keep this link handy because on the 13th August by 4pm we will be publishing the Candidates' answers to any supplementary questions that posers of the original questions have the right to ask. Trudi de Haney General Manager and Returning Officer

We are about to publish the Student Profiles and Manifestos of the candidates standing to represent South and South West, East of England and East Midlands, and Northern Ireland on OUSA's 2012/14 Central Executive Committee. There were no candidates for the position of SAR for the Republic of Ireland. The Candidate's Soapbox forum and the Virtual Hustings Your Questions forum opens today at 2 pm. To read the candidates' Profiles and Manifestos go to the Bye-Elections webpage on the link below: On the Candidates' page there are also links to their soapbox and to the Your Questions forum. The Your Questions Forum is where you can make your suggestions for questions to be put to any or all of the candidates. The Soapbox Forum is where the candidates post everything they want to say that is relevant to their electoral campaign.