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 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.

[citation needed] The association has a long history of advocating for its members by opposing New Zealand Government policies it viewed as not in the interests of students.

In the 2005 New Zealand general election the organisation strongly advocated in favour of policies it long held.

NZUSA proposed a policy compromise, suggesting a "KiwiSaver style" opt-out arrangement where students would be members unless they explicitly said they did not want to be.

[1] Although NZUSA had campaigned against VSM for fifteen years, in 2012 all students' associations were required to be voluntary.

I also think it’s important that organisations review themselves and are critical of their performance, and that’s what this is....VUWSA is one of our founding members, and hopefully we can continue to work with them going forward.

[10] Victoria University students voted in late 2015 in a referendum to have VUWSA rejoin the national union.

It comes from a position that acknowledges the systematic oppression of women and also considers how this intersects with class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and ability.