The 1940s were a monumental decade in modern history. The Second World War struck Europe between 1939 and 1945 with west Europe being a warzone for 6 years. Britain were embroiled in the war and education would naturally take a back seat to the events of the war. Even after the war in supposed affluent post war years, Britain had still lost its place to the USSR and the USA at the very top table of world elites. Therefore, for education and student unions this must have been a very testing time. Conscription was introduced into Britain in 1939 so numerous students would have gone off to war and lost their lives. However, some students did stay around and try and defeat the fascist Hitler in a different way. Liverpool’s students during this time seemed non-existent.

Nationally education took a back seat, however with Liverpool being a major port combined with the introduction of conscription, it did even more so in Liverpool. 
While some students remained behind it was not in huge numbers unlike the more established universities such as Glasgow who not only prepared for the war by fortifying their university campus but also welcomed medical students to help the war drive. The future John Moores at this time was not a solid base of colleges but instead consisted of single colleges around the city with no central office, not only for the colleges but also for the student union

Student issues still remained though and looking at the work of the NUS you can at least picture what it may have been like to be a student in Liverpool during the 1940s. The NUS wanted involvement in World War 2 by keeping education going as an educated youth could help to defeat fascism, resulting in a country wide drive for education and this will have at least helped marginally in the future LJMU colleges.

At an NUS conference 19 months into the war there was a huge unexpected turnout and this involvement led to the very inspiring quote of: “It is a demonstration of the eagerness of British students to learn about society’s problems to contribute to their solution”. Students today and especially union active students still do this. The Second World War also increased the awareness and the ability for foreign exchange students. Liverpool is a great city and now more students from abroad visit it. We at LJMU have an extensive international student community and it all started after the Second World War. Even though a number of students had been marched off to war due to conscription it was not until 1943 when the NUS stated they would help to play a part in the invasion. Perhaps if more colleges in Liverpool has been aligned with the NUS this could have delayed the mass exodus of students from Liverpool to the war effort? After the war had concluded and the dust had settled the NUS tried to press on quickly in an effort to use the era of post war affluence to the students benefit. This was an approach which really did benefit the future LJMU.

In 1946 the NUS declared that technical colleges should be given an equal status to universities. Access to universities was so difficult that the NUS knew that potential students in Britain needed strong technical colleges. In 1947 it was stated that any technical college would be welcome to join the NUS. So the technical colleges that formed the polytechnic then became a university now had support and now had a place in which to design the way they operated and the way student unions influenced a successful student lifestyle. These 2 steps in a decade that will never be forgotten are the most important to the student unions that we have now but of course we’re simply a drop in the ocean in comparison to the events of the world war. They did however lead to the 1950s and the first time that LiverpoolSU started to take real shape…