Australasian Union of Jewish Students

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) is a federation of Jewish student societies at Australian and New Zealand universities and other higher education institutions. It was founded in 1948 at the University of Sydney and is affiliated with the World Union of Jewish Students. AUJS runs social, educational, political and religious events on University campuses.

Principles

All of the organisation's activities are based on the four pillars of Judaism, Zionism, Pluralism and Activism.

Camps

Orientation camp:Each state arranges an orientation camp during the first weeks of University for first and second year Jewish students. The aim of these camps are to build relationships amongst Jewish students as they enter the often daunting University environment.

National Conference:AUJS holds a national executive conference in February ever year. The conference brings together leaders from all affiliated organisations to discuss leadership and prospects for the coming year.

Winter Conference:Winter Conference is the major national camp for AUJS students. The conference aims to bring together students from all over Australia for religious, political and social activities.

Israel programmes

AUJS operates the Taglit-Birthright Israel programs for Australian students. This program offers students subsidised trips to Israel. In 2007/2008 AUJS will send over 300 Jewish students to Israel on the Taglit-Birthright Israel trips.

Constituent organisations

AUJS operates on national, regional and campus levels. Most Regional organisations have a representative on the National Executive. Similarly, each campus organisation has a representative on that Region's Executive.

The current AUJS National President is Jessica Roth (New South Wales) and the Vice President is Jesse Sharp (Victoria). Both were the Vice Presidents of their respective states during 2007. Roth succeeded Joel Burnie (Western Australia), and Sharp Dave Burnett (New South Whales). Tragically, Burnett died less than a month after his term ended, killed in January 2008 when, during a trip to Jordan, a cliffside path he was travelling on in the archaeological site of Petra gave way beneath him during a rockslide.

Active campuses

Western Australia

* University of Western Australia
* Curtin University

New South Wales

* University of New South Wales
* University of Sydney
* Macquarie University
* University of Technology Sydney
* Cumberland
* University of Wollongong

Queensland

UQ St Lucia

outh Australia

Victoria

* Deakin University
* La Trobe University
* Monash Jewish Students Society - MONJSS (Monash University)
* RMIT
* AUJS Swinburne (Swinburne University)
* Melbourne University Jewish Students Society - MUJSS (The University of Melbourne)

New Zealand

References

External links

* [http://www.aujs.com.au/ AUJS website]