The new president of the National Union of Students has pledged to ¡°reconnect¡± the organisation with campus unions, after several voted to disaffiliate.

In her first speech since becoming national president at the start of this month, Malia Bouattia said that she had ¡°absolutely heard the arguments¡± of students who voted to break away in the wake of her election in April.

Ms Bouattia, who has faced?accusations of anti-Semitism?¨C which she vehemently denies ¨C and criticisms for sharing a platform with the controversial advocacy group Cage,?acknowledged that ¡°many an article¡± had been written about her since she unseated Megan Dunn as?president.

But she said that many people who claimed to know what she stood for ¡°have never met me, or spoken to me¡±.

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And Ms Bouattia said that she was ¡°proud¡± that 11 of the 15 students¡¯ unions that had held referendums on disaffiliation had voted to stay, with only four ¨C Lincoln, Hull, Newcastle and Loughborough ¨C opting to leave.

¡°I have absolutely heard the arguments of those who wanted to leave,¡± Ms Bouattia said. ¡°Some have opposed unions, the values of collective action and solidarity, which we have had to face throughout NUS¡¯ history.

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¡°I believe that we need to take these arguments head-on and repeat always that beyond our debates and disagreements, it is in our numbers that our strength lies ¨C but not only our strength, also our diversity, our creativity and our beauty as a movement.¡±

Ms Bouattia, the NUS¡¯ first black female president, said that the referendums had demonstrated the need for the NUS to ¡°reconnect with [its] grass roots¡±. She unveiled a plan for regional networks of students that would hold regular meetings and would, in her words, ¡°lay the basis for strengthening our responses to local and national challenges¡±.

¡°We often talk about being a movement of 7 million, and we are right to be proud of that fact, but sometimes I wonder whether instead we should talk about acting as a movement of 7 million,¡± Ms Bouattia said.

In the speech, given to student officers and staff at the NUS¡¯ Students¡¯ Unions 2016 event, Ms Bouattia announced plans for a demonstration for free education to be held in London on 12 November.

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She also said that combating discrimination and fighting for equality had to be ¡°at the heart of what we do¡±, especially in light of the rise in racist attacks that has followed the UK¡¯s vote to leave the European Union.?

chris.havergal@tesglobal.com