The City Council made a welcome commitment to clamp down, through greater enforcement measures, on rogue landlords who were not licensed under the scheme, and therefore potentially putting their tenants at risk. The Council have also agreed to encourage legislation to be introduced which would require landlords to advertise their HMO compliance to potential tenants.

ASF had worked closely over the course of the last year with landlords, and in particular the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) to bring this campaign to a successful conclusion. NUS Scotland now plan to investigate if other Councils in Scotland are making similar profits from students.

Ryan Maclean, President of the RGU Students’ Association said, ‘It is welcome news that the council has finally realised that increasing the cost of HMO’s is only discouraging landlords from letting properties to students, which is only going to encourage rogue landlords in a city with such a high percentage of students comprising the city centre population. We commend Aberdeen City Council for taking this positive step, but still believe there is more work to be done.’

Robin Parker, President for Aberdeen University Students’ Association said, ‘This was £200,000 being taken, mainly and indirectly, from the pockets of students in Aberdeen and straight into the coffers of Aberdeen City Council, I think it is fair to say there is an argument that it was a stealth council tax on students. The City Council has now recognised that that making that kind of surplus was completely out of order, and against the government legislation, and should never of happened. This fee was also having a real negative effect on the availability of affordable housing in Aberdeen, when the City Council should be doing whatever it can to encourage landlords to rent to students. So, whilst we would have hoped that the fee would have gone lower, this is still a massive victory for the students of Aberdeen’.

Graeme Kirkpatrick, President of Aberdeen College Students’ Association said ‘It’s fantastic news that the City Council will also employ an enforcement officer to attempt to crack down on rogue landlords. The city council also needs to much more work to ensure that students are living in safe accommodation. The truth is we don’t know how many student in Aberdeen are living unlicensed and unsafe properties, much more work needs to be done to guarantee their safety.’

For the Press & Journal’s coverage, see here.

Aberdeen Students’ Forum is an umbrella grouping for the four National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland affiliated Student Associations in Aberdeen. Together Aberdeen University Students’ Association, RGU Students’ Association, Aberdeen College Students’ Association and the Scottish Agricultural College Student Representative Council represent 60,000 students living in and around Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Student Forum, comprising the Presidents of Students’ Associations of RGU, Aberdeen College, Aberdeen University and Scottish Agricultural College, met with officials to represent students’ views on the price rises scheduled to come into effect from the 1^st of August.

Standard single journeys from Schoolhill to Garthdee will now be £2.20, a 20p increase.

The Student Day Ticket has been increased to £3, from £2.60.

However, a new Student ‘2Trip’, which can be used for two single journeys any time during the day has been introduced at £2.80.

Long-term loyalty tickets have been frozen in price. A New ‘Unilink’ ticket, which can only be used Monday to Friday has also been introduced, which will give students unlimited travel Monday to Friday for £9.50.

A new ‘Bunch of Fives’ Ticket has been introduced which lets five people buy an all day travel ticket for £10.

Night bus tickets have been reduced to a £2 single fare.

New RGU President Ryan Maclean said, ‘Whilst we welcome the introduction of the new 2-Trip ticket, as we think many students will use the format, we think at £2.80 it is too expensive in comparison to the price of a cross-service day ticket last year, effectively leading to Students paying more for a lesser service, and call upon First Aberdeen to bring the cost down.’

Aberdeen University President, Robin Parker, slammed the rises, saying ‘with students pockets emptier than ever, and with part-time jobs harder to come by, it is unfortunate that First Aberdeen have chosen this moment to increase fares. The student discounts are being squeezed and students are one of the few publically financially-supported groups who have no access to other forms of discount. Aberdeen is a student city and First need to recognise that’

Aberdeen College President, Graeme Kirkpatrick said, “These prices rises are going to, once again, hit the poorest students the most.  With most students already in debt First Bus’s actions are going to directly affect those already in hardship in an extremely negative way.”

First Aberdeen claim that their across the board increases are their first price rise in two years.

A year ago Aberdeen Student Forum campaigned successfully for the reintroduction of the student day ticket, following its withdrawal by First Aberdeen.

A full list of the new prices on First Aberdeen buses can be found here.

All students and their guests are welcome to drop in at any time throughout the day when the bar will be open! You do not need tickets to come and soak up the atmosphere, have a few drinks with your friends and family and listen to the music.

All students who are graduating will receive a free ticket for themselves and two guests for the sparkling wine reception. Coffee/soft drinks are also available as an alternative. Students please note that you must bring your reception tickets with you to the marquee or you will need to purchase further tickets for your glass of bubbly.

A two-course carvery lunch is also available every day from 12 noon until 2pm, bring along your family and book a table for lunch in the beautiful setting of the marquee. Lunch is priced at £15 per head and must be purchased in advance.

For more information, please visit the graduation web pages or email s.j.grieve@rgu.ac.uk

The winning lecturers will be announced over the summer. Keep an eye on the website for the results.

Being a University Governor is all about participating in the strategic planning of RGU as an organisation. Where do we want to be in 5 or 10 years time? How can we improve? What should we be focussing on? All of these are questions which a successful organisation needs to ask itself, and the Board of Governors are responsible for making sure there are answers to these questions.

This is a very significant role for any student and an amazing opportunity to build your CV!

Click here for more details

Click here for more details