Response to Open Letter Regarding Home Student Representation

Response to Open Letter Regarding Home Student Representation 

DSU recently received an open letter from two students raising concerns about home student representation within the Student Voice Leader team. We share their commitment to ensuring every student at DMU feels represented and supported, and want to respond to each concern thoughtfully and openly. 

Lived Experiences of the Issues that Matter to Students 

The open letter highlights issues such as the cost-of-living crisis, housing pressures, student finance complexity, and mental health challenges. These are real and serious concerns, and ones that DSU has been actively working on, they are not new to us and are already on your representatives’ agenda. 

These pressures can manifest differently depending on a student's circumstances; whether they are a home student navigating the UK benefits system, or an international student facing financial constraints without access to hardship funds.  However, the underlying challenges of financial stress, housing insecurity, and mental health pressure are shared experiences. That common ground is important, because it means these are issues every member of our Student Voice Leader team has a stake in, understands the urgency of, and is motivated to act on, regardless of their personal background. 

Effective advocacy is built on listening, not just lived experience; and listening is something our Student Voice Leader team is committed to doing, for every student at DMU. The Student Voice Leader team have been championing campaigns on cost of living, mental health support, and student finance, and will continue to do so throughout the 2026/27 academic year. 

These are not dividing lines between student communities. They are shared struggles, and we are stronger for tackling them together. If you resonate with any of these concerns and would like to talk with us, we invite you to access our weekly Let’s Talk: Student Voice drop-ins in The Pod @DSU, every Monday 13:00 – 15:00. 

Improving representation across all student communities is something we are already actively working on. Following the launch of our Liberation Communities consultation in January, we have been hosting events with students from underrepresented communities to shape how DSU connects with, listens to, and represents different student groups. This work is evolving, and the ideas being developed will be taken to a focus group first, and then Council Café to be refined and implemented for 2026/27. We invite you to be part of that conversation by registering your place through the links. 

Student Voice Leaders and Student Council 

Student Voice Leaders are elected by you, the DMU student body, based on what they stand for and what they promise to do in the role. When you cast your vote, you are choosing the person whose plans, values, and commitments best reflect what matters to you. This is how democratic representation works; it is built on what someone will do and be held accountable for, not on where they come from. 

No team of five people could ever have personally experienced every aspect of student life at DMU, and it would be unfair to expect that of any elected team. This is exactly why Student Council (Council Café) exists alongside our elections. It is the space where any student can bring their concerns, propose ideas, and set the priorities that the Student Voice Leader team then acts on. Your voice does not begin and end at the elections. 

The majority of motions brought to Council have come from students themselves, and the majority of those have come from home students so this academic year. The agenda for each meeting is also set by the elected Student Council Chairs, whose job it is to make sure every meeting is fair, inclusive, and reflective of the full range of student experiences at DMU.  

We understand the frustration around quorum, and we want to be transparent. Whilst some meetings have not reached the required threshold of 25 voting members, past meetings have successfully met quorum and have seen motions successfully discussed and passed. This is something we are actively addressing; a motion is due to be discussed to improve the frequency of meetings to fit better around students' academic commitments and boost engagement. 

When quorum is not met, student voices are not simply dismissed. General discussions continue and are used to shape decision making, and any items not resolved are carried forward to the next Council Café. No student concern is left unheard, unless the student proposer chooses not to progress with their motion. 

Student Council matters in a way that no other feedback channel can replicate. When you fill in a survey, share feedback, or email an idea, your voice is heard; but it is heard by one person or one team. Student Council is different. It is the only space where students collectively debate, agree, and formally set the priorities of their Students' Union through a democratic process. When a motion passes at Council, it is not one student's opinion, it is the agreed voice of the student body. It carries real weight in holding your elected representatives to account. 

This is why your attendance is so much more than just showing up. Every student who comes to Council Café, proposes a motion, or votes on an issue is participating in something bigger than a conversation, they are actively shaping the direction of DSU. If you feel that home student concerns are not being heard loudly enough, Council Café is the place where that can change. Not because someone decides to listen, but because the democratic process requires it. 

We actively encourage every student, home students included, to come to Council Café, bring their concerns, and be part of the decisions that affect their time at DMU. Your presence is not just welcome; in a democracy, it is essential. 

Engagement in Leadership Roles 

When considering representation, it is important to look at what students themselves are telling us. The data paints a more positive picture than the open letter suggests. 

In our 2026 Student Leadership Election survey, overall satisfaction stood at 81%, and the sense of feeling well represented stood at 82% across the student body. Crucially, these figures hold up strongly across every demographic group we measured, including those specifically highlighted in the open letter as being at risk of underrepresentation: 

This data does not support the notion that home students are significantly underrepresented or that there is widespread dissatisfaction with how DSU represents them. Whilst home students do sit slightly below the overall average, this reflects a gap to address through continued conversation and engagement, not evidence of systemic failure. We are committed to closing that gap, and invite students to raise ideas at our next Council Café. 

This academic year, international students made up a higher proportion of Student Voice Leader candidates and voters. Strong engagement from any part of our student community is something we welcome and celebrate, it is a sign of a healthy, active democracy. The question we should all be asking is not how to reduce engagement from one group, but how to increase it from others. That is exactly what DSU is working to do through our grassroots leadership roles and Student Leadership Framework. 

Home students are already highly active in our grassroots leadership roles, which is an encouraging foundation to build from: 

This shows that home students are not disengaged from DSU, they are leading within it. The challenge is channelling that energy and enthusiasm into our full-time elected roles, and that is precisely what our Student Leadership Framework is designed to do. The framework has already been embedded into training for grassroots roles, encouraging progression through to Student Voice Leader positions. An official launch is due before the end of the current academic year, and we would warmly invite all students to share their thoughts and help shape how we make these roles accessible and appealing to everyone. 

Student Voice Leader (International Experience) Role 

The Student Voice Leader (International Experience) remit is broader than the international students studying at the Leicester campus. This role was created to also provide representation for students studying on DMU courses abroad, reflecting the fact that DMU, like the wider higher education sector, is expanding globally. It is not a role dedicated solely to international students studying in Leicester, and for this reason it is not comparative to the suggestion of a Student Voice Leader for home students. 

When the full global student body is taken into account, the percentage of international students shifts from ~31% to ~53% of DMU's student community. Students studying abroad access DSU services and representation differently, and the International Experience role exists specifically to capture that. Home students are considered within the remit of all other Student Voice Leader roles. We raise this not to diminish the concerns expressed, but to ensure any discussion about representation reflects the most accurate and complete picture possible. 

The Open Letter Proposal 

We have considered carefully the proposal to create a dedicated full-time home student Student Voice Leader role for 2026/27. We fully understand the intention behind it, and we respect the thought that has gone into it. However, we do not believe this would resolve the issues it seeks to address. The challenges around home student engagement in leadership, quorum at Student Council, and ensuring home student concerns reach the Student Voice Leader team, stem from engagement; challenges that a new post would not fix. We are committed instead to taking concrete, targeted action;  beginning with the drop-ins outlined above, and to remaining open to further action as we listen and learn throughout the year. 

We want to close by saying that we are genuinely grateful for the open letter authors’ passion and advocacy. We see this letter as an invitation to continuously improve, and we wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. 

To every home student at DMU, we hear you, we represent you, and we are committed to making sure that is something you feel – not just something we say. 

Yours sincerely,  

Student Voice Leader Team