University of the West of Scotland
The Students' Association of the University of the West of Scotland is officially the recognised student organisation across the university. The organisation exists to campaign on students' issues, to improve learning and teaching at UWS, to offer advice and support to students, to organise events and activities, and to enable societies across all campuses.[33]
The majority of the Student Groups and Societies are available to Scottish-based UWS campuses and are run by students for students. These include religious, political and social societies as well as course-based groups.[34] There are also a collection of liberation groups and peer support groups, which exist to counter under-represented and oppressed sections of the student body.[35]
SAUWS operates Union bars at their Paisley and Ayr locations, where they host various events and activities including quiz nights and karaoke.
In 2016 SAUWS won the NUS Scotland award "Higher Education Student Association of the Year". This was awarded due to the organisations work and campaigns such as Keep UWS in Hamilton, the Summer Safety Net campaign, and its work developing services for students.[36] SAUWS was awarded "University Students' Association of the Year" by NUS Scotland once again in 2020.[37]
