The National Union of Students has produced a Good Governance Code of Practice for its member unions to help them adjust to their new status as registered charities.

The NUS worked closely with the steering group that devised the Code of Good Governance for the wider voluntary sector to adapt that code for the specific needs of student unions.

Project manager Karen Edwards told Civil Society that student unions were different to most other charities because of the high level of democracy involved in student politics.

The new code aims to promote good practice in student union governance and provide a framework for a good working relationship between student unions and their university or college.

The code can be found on a new interactive website, which also contains a self-assessment toolkit, a model relationship agreement and guidance for university governing bodies.  The NUS has also produced a pocket guide.

These were unveiled at an event today attended by Charity Commission chair Dame Suzi Leather and chair of the Code of Good Governance steering group, Lindsay Driscoll.

Until now student unions have been exempt charities and not needed to register with the Commission.  But the Charities Act 2006 required them all to register by the end of June 2011.  

There are around 650 student unions in further and higher education and around 40 of the 102 HE ones in England and Wales have already registered with the Commission.

Edwards said the addition of these student unions to the charity register would have a significant impact on the average age of charity trustees in England and Wales, as virtually all the new trustees would be the elected officers of the relevant union.