Imagine, if you will, a place where you don’t just have to pay for university, but you must do so up front. Every September and every January, you have to traipse up to your University’s registration office, cheque in hand to pay for your schooling. You might be able to get a loan from the government, but this of course accrues interest, and if you can’t get a loan or don’t have the money in hand, no University education for you. From this description, you’d probably think that any sort of reform towards the current UK system would be a large step forward, or at least one in the right direction. You’d likely be even more surprised that, as of this year, those making up to 150 percent of the median wage now have free tuition; no questions asked.

“When was the last time the NUS actually pushed the needle in [the government’s] direction, rather than just blocking some minor change?”

Not only does this place exist, but it describes where I live; the tiny province of New Brunswick, Canada. Last year, the provincial student union secured free tuition for a huge proportion of New Brunswick students. For the rest, tuition fees remain about £4,500. If nothing else, these changes were remarkable in how little fuss was kicked up about them. Students and representatives got to an agreement; we moved on with our lives.

It’s difficult – impossible really – to imagine anything remotely similar happening in the UK. Admittedly, this is partly down to the government; scrapping tuition fees is certainly not Conservative Party policy. But the NUS has done nothing – literally nothing – to ensure their credibility with the wider community and, by extension make any such reform possible. They do not work with the government – the last NUS President to do that was unceremoniously booted out after one term. They do not even try to be diplomatic: when the VP Education says the government is run by fascists at the NUS Annual Conference in 2016, it’s pretty clear communication has broken down.

This would be justified if the government was fascist, or corrupt or irrevocably evil. Yet it is abundantly clear that this government, whatever its flaws, are not that. Surely we can all sensibly agree on this. But when students make outlandish accusations about elected representatives, we cannot be taken seriously.

Similarly, the semi-annual demonstrations that have become the norm in British politics have done little in the grand scheme of things. Granted, the government did not go through with a planned tuition rise (of £250), but this should hardly be seen as a victory. When was the last time the NUS actually pushed the needle in their direction, rather than just blocking some minor change?

In Canada, similar protests occurred in Quebec. In response to a £1,000 hike in tuition fees (from £1,500 to £2,500), students poured out onto the streets. They vandalized parts of the University of Montreal, blocked students from attending class, provoking over 3,500 arrests. Eventually, under the pressure of significant disruption in the downtown centre of Montreal the government buckled, but not before the credibility of the student movement was well and truly shot. In Quebec there have been no attempts to eliminate tuition fees, which now rise at 3% annually, and the funding shortfall the hike was meant to alleviate has just been shifted to health and education.

In contrast, over three years ago student unions in New Brunswick sat down with the provincial government. Successive groups of union leadership picked up where the previous left off – relationships were cultivated, support was built within government and within university administrations. In those three years not a single student strike action was called nor a single cabinet minister smeared. There might have been the odd controversy, but the unions were committed to publicly working with the administration. The result has been the most revolutionary policy change in Canada in higher education in years. It’s impact upon the poorest students will undoubtedly be considerable.

If nothing else, the Canadian example shows there is another way to do union politics that may actually be successful. It simply isn’t good enough to be perpetually outraged. If we are actually committed to making a difference, we should expect more from our student unions. Instead of applauding when we hear what we want to hear, we should have much higher expectations about what can be accomplished. Otherwise, we might as well take our bull horns and banners, walk into the middle of Jesus Green, and just yell at the air