This month, the Government is set to legislate to irrevocably damage the ability for students to have a legitimate and meaningful voice on campus. You should care about that because, ultimately, it will affect the decisions that get made that affect you.
It means a significant power shift from students—those who have your interests as the first priority—to institutions—those with other priorities.
It means that you will have no say in what services should be provided and how much you should be paying for them. That surely has no basis in principle.
Despite overwhelming opposition from students and submitters, National is supporting a Bill from the ACT Party that will forever undermine the ability of your students’ association to advocate on behalf of students. It’s a fringe ideology based law that will achieve nothing for students—instead it will deliver higher fees, worse services, services that students don’t even want and eliminate proper student oversight of important decisions.
The current legislation allows students to hold a referendum on campus to decide whether they want a universal students’ association or not. When one was held at Victoria—86 per cent of students said yes to having a credible independent voice on campus. The Government and ACT now want to legislate away that choice.
Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) provides an independent voice for students not controlled by the Government or the University. VUWSA belongs to the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) that has been a voice for many years in fighting for a fairer education system, reducing student debt, increasing access to allowances, and improving the quality of your education. We now have interest-free student loans thanks to the pressure from students’ associations.
Students voted for a universal association at Victoria because independent student oversight means decisions which are better for students—financially and academically. The principle: students are paying for this University, so they should have a say in how it is run and operated.
Internationally, it is shown that strong student representation improves student success; leads to better decisions for students; improves the quality of day-to-day teaching services; and leads to more responsive and appropriate student services, which are delivered more cost-effectively. It makes sense because those are the things that students care about.
What’s more—it is likely you will end up paying more in the long-term. Why? Because it is students that care most about how much they pay. It is only student representatives that can provide the student perspective—they are the ones that care most about the value for money students are receiving.
In a VSM environment, regardless of how many students join, students’ associations may very well see themselves beholden to institutions or unable to fund their activities—completely unable to provide a credible independent voice. That may not happen straight away, but over time your voice will be diminished. We have seen that everywhere VSM has been adopted. Institutions take control and the association loses its independence.
So, you end up paying more for something you have no say in. Yay.
David Do and Max Hardy are the co-presidents of the national students association, the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations(NZUSA). NZUSA works closely with VUWSA to ensure that your issues and concerns are heard at a national level.