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Aside from their political role, student unions organise on-campus activities, such as the popular Orientation Week program at the University of New South Wales.

Australia's universities are home to a variety of different student union groups, providing a range of political, commercial and other services to students. The sector has undergone substantial change in recent years, with a decline in participation, intervention by university administrations, and the end of compulsory membership arrangements.

Although names such as union, student association, representative council and guild are common, in practice they provide little insight into an organisation's role on campus. In addition, some organisations have chosen to rebrand using entirely new names, with the term "union" in particular considered to be the source of misunderstandings about their role. Students at Macquarie and Arc @ UNSW are examples of this trend. Where campus unions are being replaced with university-owned corporate entities, non-traditional names such as UWS Connect and UniCentre are becoming common.

History

Early student unions

The history of student union in Australian universities broadly reflects the changing nature of the student body in the Australian tertiary system. The earliest student body was a largely wealthy group. Entry into the University system was only available to the privileged and wealthy. The associations formed by this body reflected the social associations formed by this class of Australians: they were largely voluntary and focused on extending the social opportunities of their members. In the late 19th and early 20th century, at each University these organisations developed closer links with one another, and eventually transformed into unified student associations.

The rise of radicalism

By the 1930s, the Australian Labor Party was proving to be politically attractive to small groups of University students. These students formed Labour Clubs, dedicated to the ideas of the labour movement, and began to contest for leadership of student associations. The Labor Clubs were often opposed by independent conservative students, but often conservative students lacked the vast activist apparatus built up under the Labour Clubs.

In the 1950s, the composition of the student body changed radically. The Menzies Government founded new technically oriented universities, like the University of New South Wales, and expanded the role of the technical tertiary colleges. This was in response to a perceived lack of graduate labour in the Australian economy. Increasingly, working class students were able to access University through teacher-training schemes, veterinary preference schemes, and other avenues. Bonded in labour to a government authority, these students could exert some level of pressure against their future "employer" by joining a union and protecting the rights of newer graduates with little real life experience and new to the workforce. A similar wave of increased tertiary funding in the 1970s under the Whitlam Government saw the foundation of mostly regional tertiary campuses. The opening up of higher education to a broader social group coincided with a period of popular student unionism in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Voluntary student unionism

Students rally outside the Victorian State library to protest cuts to education funding and reductions in the quality of student income support.

A new National Union of Students was established to replace AUS, this time with a structure designed to make it harder for constituent organisations to disaffiliate.

The collapse of AUS coincided with a hardening of attitudes on the right of politics towards student unionism. State and federal Liberal parties began to consider policies to stop student organisations from using funding from compulsory universal membership on left-wing political activities.

VSU began to gain legislative traction in the 1990s, with variations on the idea being briefly implemented in Western Australia and Victoria. VSU was also the policy of the Howard government, in power federally from 1996. Although Labor reversed the state VSU initiatives, the federal government brought in VSU legislation using its new Senate majority in 2005. VSU came into full effect at the beginning of 2007.

Union Structure

Campus unions have traditionally been responsible for the provision of commercial services, such as food and retail outlets, and activity programs, such as those associated with orientation week. The advent of voluntary student unionism and the impact of a number of financial scandals at student organisations have prompted many universities to significantly alter the structure of campus service delivery. At a number of universities, campus unions are assuming responsibility for student council activities.

Often student councils represent the interests of students to universities and to government. Many provide additional services including legal advice and student media outlets. At many universities, student council services are provided by a single-structure campus union (see below).

Dual-structure

Campus unions that operate as part of a dual structure are in which an organisationally separate student council is present. Even among dual-structure campuses, organisational structure differs markedly.

University	Student Representative Council	Service Organisation
Australian National University	Australian National University Students' Association	Australian National University Union (Note ANU Union is solely responsible for running businesses, all services provided by ANUSA.
Macquarie University	Macquarie University Students' Council	Students at Macquarie
RMIT University	RMIT Student Union	RMIT Union
Southern Cross University	Southern Cross University Students' Association	Southern Cross University Union
Swinburne University of Technology	Swinburne Student Union	Swinburne Student Amenities Association (University owned, operated and controlled)
University of Adelaide	Adelaide University Student Representative Council^[1]	Adelaide University Union
University of Canberra	University of Canberra Students' Representative Council	University of Canberra Union
University of New England	University of New England Student Association (UNESA)	University of New England Student Association (UNESA)
University of Newcastle	Newcastle University Students' Association,\| Newcastle University Postgraduate Students' Association^[2]	UoN Services Limited, Campus Central & NUSport
University of Sydney	University of Sydney Students Representative Council	University of Sydney Union
University of the Sunshine Coast	University of the Sunshine Coast Student Representative Council
University of Technology, Sydney	UTS Students' Association	UTS Union
University of New South Wales	UNSW SRC	Arc @ UNSW

Single-structure

Campus unions that operate as part of a single structure, are in which student council services are provided by a division or department of the union.

University	Union
Central Queensland University	Central Queensland University Student Association
Charles Sturt University	Charles Sturt University Student Senate
Curtin University of Technology	Curtin Student Guild
Deakin University	Deakin University Student Association
Edith Cowan University	Edith Cowan University Student Guild
Flinders University	Flinders University Student Association
Griffith University	Griffith University Student Representative Council
James Cook University	James Cook University Student Association
La Trobe University	La Trobe Student Union
La Trobe University, Bendigo	Bendigo Student Association
Monash University, Clayton	Monash Student Association
Murdoch University	Murdoch Guild
Queensland University of Technology	Queensland University of Technology Student Guild
University of Melbourne	University of Melbourne Student Union
University of Queensland	University of Queensland Union
University of South Australia	University of South Australia Students Association
University of Tasmania	Tasmanian University Student Association
University of Western Australia	University of Western Australia Student Guild
Western Sydney University	WSU Student Representative Council
Victoria University	Victoria University Student Union

Postgraduate organisations

At many universities, postgraduate students are represented by separate student organisations. Given the smaller numbers - and relative time-poverty - of postgrads, these organisations tend to be smaller and are significantly under-resourced when compared to general or undergraduate groups. At a national level, postgrads are represented by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.