Voluntary Student Unionism - recent legislative changes
Current and commencing students at the University of Sydney will be aware that there has been a considerable amount of public debate over the Commonwealth Government's intention to amend the Higher Education Support Act so as to prohibit compulsory student unionism within universities.
The legislation giving effect to the Government's policy on VSU was passed by the Senate on 9/12/2005. The Act will come into force on 1 January, 2006 but the Government has allowed for a transition period in the legislation.
The effect of this legislation is that commencing and continuing students who are enrolled at the University in 2006, prior to 1 July, that is, students who commenced their 2006 enrolment in Semester 1, will be required to pay the subscription for the relevant student associations for the calendar year 2006 in accordance with current University Senate resolutions. Consistent with the legislation no student will be required to become a member of any student association or to pay the associated subscription from 2007. Voluntary membership will of course be an option.
Commencing and continuing students who are enrolling for the first time in 2006 for periods of study that commence from 1 July 2006, that is, students enrolling for Semester 2, 2006 who were not enrolled in Semester 1, 2006, will not be required to become members of student associations or to pay subscriptions to those associations. Such students may however join student associations and pay subscriptions on a voluntary basis.
The University places a very high value on the important contributions which student associations make to campus life and to the total experience of being a student at the University of Sydney.