NUS Scotland release 2026 Student Manifesto
NUS Scotland have launched their student manifesto ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary Elections on 7 May 2026.
Their manifesto is based on consultation with thousands of students and student representatives across Scotland. It covers eight (8) key areas:
- Cost of living
- Fair funding and good governance in tertiary education
- A new deal for student housing
- Transport
- Equalities
- Recognising every journey
- A welcoming Scotland for international students
- Mental health and wellbeing: investing in minds, building a healthier future together
Within each key area, NUS Scotland have a list of pledge requests. Looking specifically at the mental health and wellbeing section, NUS Scotland are calling on parties and candidates to pledge to:
- Guarantee that colleges and universities commit to an adequate minimum level of mental health support. Ensuring that every student in crisis gets the support they need, and thatless students reach crisis point.
- Ensure that the colleges and universities are adequately funded to deliver adequate mental health support. Ensuring no student is failed because their institution couldn’t afford to look after them.
- Commit to long term funding of mental health projects that ensure good standards and a joined-up approach to mental health support provision across tertiary education and beyond, such as the Think Positive Project. Guaranteeing that good projects can engage in long term planning, rather than being held back by uncertainty.
- Commit to working with students to improve applications for discretionary funding to make them more accessible, less complicated and less intrusive. Ensuring that bureaucracy doesn’t stand in the way of students getting the help they need.
- Establish better and more streamlined pathways between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and adult mental health services. No young person should lose the support they need when they move into tertiary education.
- Make extended waiting times for student counselling services an incident to be monitored by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). If the Scottish Government and its delegated bodies don’t gather data then they are less able to respond to crises.
The NUS Scotland Student Manifesto 2026 can be downloaded below.
