Within a matter of weeks the UK will have a new prime minister, writes Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students. And after 10 years of major change in education - some of which I fought for, some of which I fought strongly against - the NUS is urging greater support for UK students, on whom the future economic success of the country relies.
So this week we launch our five challenges for the new prime minister (pdf), a series of practicable proposals that could be implemented in the PM's first 100 days and which would vastly improve the lives and futures of those in post-16 education across the UK.
The facts are that barriers to entering education and training still exist, so the next prime minister will have to go further and faster to ensure more potential students are encouraged into further and higher education.
And with the introduction of tuition fees and student debt at an all-time high, that prime minister will also have to recognise that those students need to be supported through education - in terms of their welfare, their wages, and the logistics. Health, travel and the rights to decent pay are all vital to students and young people and our calls reflect this.
Health - NUS calls for prescriptions, dental care and eye test exemptions to be extended to cover all students.
Travel - NUS calls for a commitment to ensure concessionary bus travel for all students.
Debt - NUS calls for the current interest rate on student loans to remain linked to inflation.
Skills - NUS calls for the extension of free entitlement to level 3 qualifications to all adults.
Work - NUS calls for an equal minimum wage to protect our most vulnerable workers and give them a fair and equal position in the workplace.
If anything has been made clear in the last 10 years, it is that promoting the life chances of Britain's 7 million plus students in further and higher education needs a firm set of commitments and not just lip service. We believe these challenges will go some way to delivering this.
"Education, education, education" should still be the rallying cry, but with "students, students, students" at the heart of it; listened to, engaged with and consulted at every stage.
As nominations close, we are throwing down the gauntlet to all prospective leadership and deputy leadership candidates, asking them to respond to our challenges.
We also hope that Labour MPs and members, and the unions, take the challenges on board when voting for their new leaders. And we will wait to see whether Tony Blair's successor is up to meeting our challenge.
