Stella Greenall

Stella Margaret Greenall (born Stella Draycott) (October 8 1927 - June 18 2008) was an education activist and adviser to the U.K. government. Between 1952 and 1975 she worked at the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom and during this time was instrumental in the creation of a universal system of grants for higher education students in Britain.

Early life

Born in Sheffield, and a pupil at High Storrs Grammar School, she attended St Hugh's College, Oxford.

Work with NUS

Greenall was first involved with NUS as a student in the 1940s. She was then employed as a member of staff in 1952, and in her tenure there developed the union's education and welfare campaigns, especially around student finance. She was known as a formidable negotiator, and this culminated in the introduction, in 1962, of mandatory grants for all higher education students in the UK, a system which was in large part unchanged until the introduction of tuition fees in 1998.

Later life

In 1975, Greenall was persuaded to leave NUS to work as an advisor to the then Labour Education Secretary, Fred Mulley. She also advised his successor, Shirley Williams, until the Conservative victory in the 1979 elections.

In 1998 she cancelled her standing order to the Labour Party as a result of their introduction of tuition fees.

Greenall died of cancer on June 18 2008.