The NZUSA is dead! Long live ATSA!

Dan Moskovitz (he/him) 

Last week, the embers of the dead New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations formed into the Aotearoa Tertiary Students Association, signalling a new age for student organization in New Zealand.

Why the change? According to VUWSA president Liban Ali, when membership in student unions became voluntary, NZUSA’s funding fell off a cliff. This resulted in all discussions in NZUSA only being about money instead of advocacy. As such, no one was getting any bang for any amount of buck. 

And NZUSA cost a lot of buck. The various student associations would put in money proportionate to their number of students, meaning VUWSA was contributing around $45k a year. The largest student association, Auckland, was contributing $75k. But it wasn’t enough, and nothing was coming from the cash which was put in. When no results were coming out of high sums from the already skint student unions, associations left. Which only accelerated the problem. 

“Not only was NZUSA not sustainable, but it also wasn't the national body that it used to be,” said Ali. 

“As the years went on, you could see the financial structure falling apart, which resulted in the integral structure of people getting elected falling apart. So there was a lot of instability, and egos started getting in the way of good work.”

So what will the newly ordained ATSA look like? Each student association president sits on a committee with their peers, with a rotating chair, where they will decide what to advocate for. Alongside six of the seven university student unions, the nationwide international students, disabled students, and Māori student unions will also be represented. 

Such collective student activism has forced past governments to pay attention, according to Ali. He says there are already discussions around nationally coordinated campaigns on ensuring paid placements for nurses, midwifery, and other students, alongside potentially ending voluntary student union membership. In addition, a national body provides the benefit of ensuring consistent dialogue between the various associations. 

However, one group is missing; Canterbury’s student association, UCSA. They were the student union first to ditch NZUSA, all the way back in 1999. While they’ll review their decision to not join later in 2025, UCSA president Luc McKay cites this history as part of why they’re not in.

“Key factors in our decision included the absence of a student mandate to join a national body, given our long-standing independence, as well as concerns about potential financial and reputational risks,” said MacKay.

And there may be a valid critique here. If NZUSA was disbanded for being ineffectual, costly, and corrupt, what’s to prevent ATSA from suffering the same fate? 

“What happened with NZUSA was that conversation about funding plagued the space every year,” said Ali. “But we [the presidents] already get paid from our respective student associations. We can just contribute four to five hours each week to national body work.

“As much as we will have to have to discuss it later down the line, for now we need to keep the conversation away from money.”

But as Ali states, how ATSA is to be funded is yet to be decided. Meaning the key issue which sank ATSA’s predecessor is yet to be properly solved. 

Because of this, there’s probably some sense in taking the time to get the financials right. NZUSA has already been replaced once. Should ATSA crumble too, it’s unlikely any union will be up for a third rodeo.