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The student marketing calendar traditionally witnesses a frenzy of activity around this year, as brands prepare to climb over themselves to reach students during the ‘essential’ freshers period.

Yet nearly 50% of current UK students have never bothered to attend their university’s iconic giveaway and information event.

This damning news comes with a bundle of other hard-to-swallow figures from a London Student/Opinionpanel survery that will further pressure a students’ union movement struggling to stay relevant to today’s student.

It seems only 25 out of over 1000 students surveyed had any idea who the current NUS president is.

And while students’ unions provide a massive range of services, from welfare advice and representation to social events, food and entertainments, a surprising 15% of those questioned had failed to have contact with any service whatsoever.

London Student reports: “Only a small minority of students joined a society or sports club at their union, while an even smaller fraction had used academic advice services or attended a union campaign. One in sixteen have attended their union’s general meeting - and half of those never went back. Less than one in five said they’d joined a sports club, and 27 per cent joined a society.”

London Student is the student newspaper for the University of London. It is editorially independent of its publishers, ULU (University of London Union). Read the article.