| New Zealand Union Of Students' Associations |
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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. 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. In 2007 the Co-Presidents were Joseph Randall and Josh Clark. The 2008 co-Presidents are Paul Fallon, with a second to be elected. The organisation also has a National Womens Rights Officer (NWRO), who in 2006 was Jenn Jones. 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. 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. EXTERNAL LINKS
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