The Student Movement in Northern Ireland is jointly administered by USI and the National Union of Students UK (NUS) through a protocol agreement first negotiated in 1972 to combat the particular problems of sectarianism encountered in the North of Ireland.

An area organisation, the Northern Ireland Council, co-ordinates campaign activity and elects the sabbatical Northern Ireland Convenor and a part-time Executive Committee at an annual conference. A bilateral committee comprising senior officers from both national unions manage the overall direction of the office. At the moment there are 5 staff members in the office of which only two are core funded through affiliation fees from member unions.

Representing approximately 185,000 students in full and part-time courses, NUS-USI provides a wide range of services to over 20 colleges throughout the North of Ireland. These services include, for example, training and development programmes (notably through a Department of Education funded diversity programme), student development courses, international exchanges, research and briefing activities and commercial services such as collective purchasing facilities.

 

The USI has a northern office, located in Belfast, which caters for the needs of students in the North. The USI's Northern Area Officer is based here. He/she has a dual role, which includes working as part of NUS-USI and also acting as the Northern Area Officer on the USI Officer Board.