NTSU Notes:

1. The Memorandum & Articles of Association (M&A) is a legal document which outlines how your Union is run. As a charity, Nottingham Trent Students’ Union (NTSU) is required to have this governing document, which acts as a rule book setting out our charitable purposes (‘Objects’), what we can do to carry out our purposes (‘Powers’), who runs us (‘Trustees’) , who can be a member, how meetings will be held and how trustees are appointed.

2. We are required to review our M&A at intervals of no more than five years (Article 1.7)

3. Reviewing our governance helps to make sure that we are continuing to be compliant with the law and relevant regulations, furthermore it promotes a culture where the organisation functions in a way that works towards meeting our charitable objects.

4. As a result of points 1-3, the following edits to the Articles have been made:

i. Rewording throughout to improve conciseness of M&A.

ii. All definitions outlined within this document have been moved to the back to make it easier to read.

iii. The Democratic Procedures Document has been renamed as Byelaws for consistency with the sector and with government practice.

iv. A rewording to reflect an update to the investment rules to comply with Charities Act 2011 (Article 1.4).

v. The M&A approval process has been re-ordered so final approval of changes sit with NTSU’s Trustee Board after NTU approval (Article 1.7).

vi. An Article name change to remove students and replace with members (Article 2.4).

vii. Amendments and monitoring relating to the code of conduct now sit with NTSU’s Trustee Board (Article 2.4).

viii. Removal of outdated terms regarding company law members.

ix. Rewording to ensure associate members uphold expected standards of behaviours (Article 2.8).

x. An update to the requirements of calling referenda, from three sabbatical officers to a majority, and from 100 members to 200 members (Article 3).

xi. Removal of what was Article 4.2 through to 4.9 inclusive as it replicated statutory duties for Company Law meetings in the 2006 Companies Act. Replaced with a catch all statement for these requirements in Article 4.2.3.

xii. Increased number of External Trustees to provide Trustee Board with flexibility to appoint more expertise to the Trustee Board as required (Article 5.1.1.4).

xiii. Update to Sabbatical Trustee & Non-Sabbatical Trustee definitions to be more succinct (Article 5.2).

xiv. Changes made to Trustee Board meetings to reflect a modern approach to decision-making, with necessary mechanisms in place as required for voting (Article 5).

 

NTSU Believes:

1. Our M&A should be inclusive for all students.

2. Our M&A should be as easy to read as possible.

5. Our Trustee Board should always reflect current best practice.

NTSU Resolves:

1. To implement an updated version of the M&A which incorporates all the changes outlined above, pending approval from the University.

 

NTSU Memorandum & Articles - FV Clean Oct 2023

NTSU Memorandum & Articles - FV Tracked Changes Oct 2023