Introduction
The Australia New Zealand Student Services Association is the professional association for all people working to support students in post-secondary education in Australia and New Zealand.
As an umbrella organisation for a wide range of professional workers, ANZSSA is uniquely placed to provide professional development activities which will deepen understanding of the principles and philosophies of student support and provide a venue for training in best practice in the profession of student support.
This is done through meetings, seminars, workshops and conferences where experienced practitioners present in their areas of expertise.
Aims
The basic aims of ANZSSA are:
- to foster and promote support amongst students and staff;
- to facilitate the general well-being of the institutional community in universities and other post-secondary institutions;
- to sponsor regular conferences and organise close professional contact between its members;
- to promote research relevant to the delivery of student services/student affairs including services, programs and interventions and the enrichment of student life and student engagement in the post secondary education sector;
- to support and promote the interests of all those engaged in these activities.
Professional Development Activities
A Biennial Conference is the major ANZSSA meeting. It is a significant and substantial conference which attracts numerous international participants as well as delegates from the Australian States and New Zealand.
Regional and State meetings are the main ANZSSA events between biennial conferences. Regional activities range from informal workshops to visiting speakers and, in some cases, regular three day conferences.
Bulletin Board An e-mail list server has been set up to provide ongoing informal communication links for Australian and New Zealand Tertiary Education staff and students involved with service provision in the areas of Counselling, Careers, and International Students in Higher Education.
The aim is to provide a forum for discussion and sharing of information about all areas relating to helping services in tertiary education including research activities, conferences, seminars and similar activities, requests for information, discussion relating to Counselling, Health, Careers, International Student Services, Learning, Finance, Welfare etc.
Publications
JANZSSA, the Journal of ANZSSA, is published and distributed to members twice per year. Members are encouraged to contribute a variety of material - scholarly articles, information communications, comments, book reviews, and items of interest to the general membership can all be accommodated.
ANZSSA is on the web at: http://www.anzssa.org The ANZSSA web site is a comprehensive resource offering a broad range of support information to professionals working in student support roles.
Membership
ANZSSA is the umbrella organisation for Student Services Staff. Most members also belong to Professional Interest Groups. Members are invited to nominate up to three special interest groups that reflect their primary interest areas and a portion of their membership fee is allocated to those groups to facilitate professional development activities. Additional fees may have to be paid to join some groups and/or supplementary groups.
The majority of individual members work directly with post-secondary students in various aspects of student welfare. This includes:
- Campus Nurses and Medical Officers
- Careers Advisors
- Chaplains
- Child Care workers
- College Staff
- Counsellors
- Enrolled students
- Equity Officers
- Financial Advisers
- First Year Experience coordinators/project officers
- Housing Officers
- Legal Advisors
- Peer Mentoring Program coordinators/volunteers
- Residential Advisors
- Residential college Deans/Sub-Deans
- Residential college tutors
- Social Workers
- Sport and Recreation staff
- Students interested in a career in student services/student affairs
- Student Officers
- Student services/student development project officers
- Student volunteers
- Transition and retention program officers
- Welfare Workers
- Teachers and Administrators such as Sub/Assoc Deans
The range of institutions represented includes Universities, Technical and Further Education Colleges, Specialist Tertiary Schools and Residential Facilities.
Staff from related government services (e.g. Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, Overseas Students' Office etc.), and other organisations (e.g. Family Planning associations etc.) are also encouraged to join their colleagues in ANZSSA.
The membership thus reflects the view of ANZSSA that post-secondary education students share many common needs and problems regardless of the type of institution at which they are studying or their differing circumstances.