It is an organisation with the intention of representing and providing services and welfare for the students of University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

[3] The Students' Union is run by seven sabbatical officers and nine voluntary unpaid liberation and chair positions.

It also employs around 300 people in ancillary roles including bar staff and Freshers' Week organisers.

The Union building was built in 1924 with a gift from an anonymous donor, who is believed to have been Sir Cecil Cochrane, a major benefactor to the university.

[4] It is built in the neo-Jacobean style and was designed by the local architect Robert Burns Dick whose firm designed the Laing Art Gallery, the towers of the Tyne Bridge and The Spanish City in Whitley Bay.

[11] Artists that have performed at Students' Union include Maxïmo Park,[12] Snow Patrol, Coldplay,[13] George Ezra and The 1975.

The oldest of these was the Junior Union Society, founded in 1881, which arranged debates and dances for the Durham colleges in Newcastle.

[7] The management of the Union building was run by a board of trustees appointed by the University Council.

The then NUSU president Dominic Fearon said students felt the NUS “no longer represents their views, does not prioritise correctly, and is not effective at achieving change.”[18] A second referendum was held in December 2018 with the result being to not re-affiliate with 52% of the vote, and a turnout of only 4%.

For a society to become ratified it must have 15 members as well as an executive committee which consists of a president, secretary and treasurer.

They are responsible for representing students studying, both taught and research, postgraduate courses such as master's degrees and PhD's.

Officers are elected usually in March via a cross-campus vote typically preceded by a four-day campaign period.

The election period typically sees candidates canvassing around campus and student accommodation sites as well as participate in debates facilitated by the Students' Union and in more recent years, The Courier, NSR and NUTV.

[24] The Courier also has a head editor - the Student Media Officer - who works full-time editing the newspaper.

It covers events such as student council and sports as well as student-made dramas, cookery programmes and fashion shows.