New Zealand Union of Students' Associations

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The New Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA) is a representative body that advocates for the interests of tertiary students in New Zealand. It has 14 member students' associations, with a combined membership of over 180,000 students. Until 2006, it was known as the New Zealand University Students' Association.

1 History
2 Members
3 Current activities
4 Structure
5 Name
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

The organisation was founded in 1929 as the New Zealand National Union of Students, and initially focussed its activities on sporting and social concerns. It changed its name to the New Zealand University Students' Association in 1935, and over time gave greater focus to issues concerning student welfare, such as student access to healthcare. It developed a strong involvement in social issues during the 1960s and 1970s, opposing the Vietnam War, Apartheid, and racial immigration policies, as well as supporting homosexual law reform.

The association has a long history of opposing NZ Government policies it viewed as not in the interests of students. During the 1990s and 2000s the New Zealand government and New Zealand universities made large increases in fees for students, and limited access to allowances for study. These changes attracted much criticism from the NZUSA.

[edit] Members

North Island

ASA - Albany Students' Association
AUSA - Auckland University Students' Association (Associate Member)
WSU - Waikato Students' Union
SAWIT - Students' Association of Waikato Institute of Technology
WITSA - Waiariki Institute of Technology Students' Association
EITSA - Eastern Institute of Technology Students' Association
MUSA - Massey University Students' Association
WISA - Whitireia Independent Students' Association
WSA - WelTec Students' Association
VUWSA - Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association
MAWSA - Massey at Wellington Students' Association
EXMSS - Massey Extramural Students' Society

South Island

SANITI - Students at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (Inc)
UCSA - University of Canterbury Students' Association
LUSA - Lincoln University Students' Association
OUSA - Otago University Students' Association
OPSA - Otago Polytech Students' Association

[edit] Current activities

In the 2005 New Zealand general election the organisation came out strongly in favour of the policies of the parties which it considered to support students the most. These were the 0% Student Loan Interest policy by the Labour Party and Universal Student Allowances policy supported by many minor parties, including the Greens, NZ First and United Future. The current New Zealand Government has introduced the 0% student loan interest policy, but the organisation continues to campaign against decreasing access to student allowances.

[edit] Structure

In 2007 the Co-Presidents were Joseph Randall and Josh Clark. The 2008 co-Presidents are Paul Falloon (formerly President of MUSA) and Liz Hawes (formerly President of EXMSS).

The organisation also has a National Women's Rights Officer (NWRO), who in 2008 will be Analiese Jackson (formerly Women's Welfare Representative at the Albany Students' Association).

The Tertiary Women's Focus Group (TWFG) is a directive sub-group of NZUSA that is made up of women in students associations and coordinated the national Thursdays in black campaign.

[edit] Name

The organisation changed its name from the New Zealand University Students' Association on July the 4th 2006, to better reflect the fact it represents students at a variety of types of tertiary education institutions.