VUWSA Launches Paid Placements Campaign

Te Aka Tauira – Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) is proud to launch our Paid Placements campaign. VUWSA supports the introduction of paid placements for students in nursing, teaching, medicine, midwifery, and social work. These students undertake essential frontline work in their compulsory placements while also facing significant financial hardship, mounting debt, and increasing pressure to leave their studies altogether. 

Across Aotearoa New Zealand, students in these professions complete hundreds and often thousands of unpaid placement hours. Nursing students complete over 1,100 hours, social work students around 960 hours, teaching students up to 120 days, and midwifery students more than 2,400 hours of unpaid clinical placement.(1) By comparison, police officers who undertake their 20 weeks of training can expect to earn an annual salary of $59,906 NZD, with government contributions to superannuation and insurance increasing the total remuneration package to $66,215 NZD.(2) Apprentices in trades are also paid as they train, earning a training wage ($19.16 NZD). (3) 

These placements are not optional. They are required to graduate and enter professions that this country desperately needs. Yet students are often expected to give up paid work, travel long distances, relocate temporarily, and work full-time hours for no pay while still covering rent, transport, food, and course costs. Research conducted by Dr. Leighton Watson from the University of Canterbury found that financial hardship caused by unpaid placements contributes to major dropout rates, including approximately 40 percent in social work and 37 percent in midwifery programmes.(4) By comparison, the Police dropout rate is about 2%.(5)  

This is a workforce issue as much as it is a student issue. “Aotearoa continues to face shortages in healthcare, education, and social services” says VUWSA Campaigns Officer Lewis Collins. “If we want to retain future nurses, teachers, doctors, midwives, and social workers, we must make these pathways financially viable”.  We need to retain our graduates to grow our workforce and improve our future.  

Paid placements are an investment in the future workforce of Aotearoa New Zealand. They would reduce financial stress, improve student retention, widen access for students from working-class backgrounds, and help address long-term staffing shortages in critical public services. A recent New Zealand Nurses Organisation student survey found that nearly two-thirds of nursing students regularly struggled to cover basic living costs, more than a third faced over $2,000 annually in placement-related expenses, and most were forced to significantly cut back their paid work while on clinical placement.(6) Students should not be pushed into poverty simply for training in professions that keep our communities functioning. 

This campaign is inspired by the hard mahi of Bex Howells, campaign lead for Paid Placements Aotearoa. We would not be able to run this campaign without her immense dedication to her advocacy and research around paid placements.  

VUWSA believes no student should have to choose between completing their qualifications and being able to afford groceries or rent. 

Our key asks: 

1. Commitment to Introducing Paid Placements 

VUWSA calls on all the Government and opposition parties to commit to introducing a universal paid placement system for nursing, teaching, medicine, midwifery, and social work students. No student should be forced into financial hardship while completing compulsory frontline work. 

1. Provide Immediate Cost-of-Living Support for Placement Students 

The Government must urgently expand financial support for students on placement through accommodation assistance, transport support, and increased access to living-cost payments while a full paid placement scheme is developed. 

1. Invest in the Future Workforce of Aotearoa New Zealand 

Paid placements must be recognised as an investment in retaining future nurses, teachers, doctors, midwives, and social workers. Supporting students now will help reduce dropout rates and address long-term workforce shortages in essential public services. 

Follow us on @students4paidplacements on Instagram and keep an eye on our website for information on our upcoming actions.  

Keen to get involved? Have any pātai? Email campaigns@vuwsa.org.nz 

1 - https://www.paidplacementsaotearoa.org/challenge
2 - https://www.newcops.govt.nz/about-the-job/pay-benefits
3 - https://www.employment.govt.nz/pay-and-hours/pay-and-wages/minimum-wage/minimum-wage-rates-and-types
4 - https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news-and-events/news/2025/unpaid-placements-strain-trainee-professionals--new-nz-study
5 - Ibid
6 - https://www.nzno.org.nz/Portals/0/publications/Report%20%20National%20Nursing%20Student%20Survey,%202025.pdf

Where's the Work Campaign Launch

On Monday 7 July, Te Aka Tauira – Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) has launched its newest campaign, Where’s the Work?, a call to action addressing the lack of accessible, meaningful employment opportunities for students and recent graduates in Aotearoa. 

Te Aka Tauira – VUWSA represents the interests of all tauira at Victoria University of Wellington. Our mahi centres on the kaupapa “By Students, For Students”, encompassing a wide range of work within our university and wider community — from welfare and advocacy to academic representation and national campaigns that uplift and empower tauira. Where’s the Work? is an extension of this kaupapa, aiming to ensure every student has the chance to thrive during their studies and beyond. 

In recent years, students have faced skyrocketing living costs, stagnant wages, and increasingly limited part-time job options. At the same time, more graduates are packing their bags and heading overseas to Australia, the UK, and beyond — not because they want to, but because they feel they have no choice. 

The Where’s the Work? campaign highlights the growing urgency for increased local job availability and accessibility. While there may be work out there, it is often unsuitable or out of reach for students managing demanding study schedules and financial pressures. Students need flexible, fairly paid employment that complements — not competes with — their education. These roles are crucial to sustaining themselves while pursuing their degrees. 

However, accessibility is just as important as availability. Too many students find themselves locked out of jobs because of inflexible hours, a lack of supports, or requirements that don’t accommodate their lived realities. VUWSA is advocating for local employers to adopt inclusive hiring practices and offer roles that acknowledge the balancing act students perform every day. 

The campaign also aims to champion the mutual value of stronger partnerships between local businesses and students. Students bring fresh ideas, innovation, and energy to the workforce. In turn, they gain practical skills, income, and a sense of belonging in the communities they live and study in. By fostering a reciprocal relationship between students and employers, we’re not just supporting individuals — we’re enriching our city’s social and economic fabric. 

“We often talk about the student debt crisis or the cost of living — but it’s all connected to employment,” says VUWSA President Liban Ali. “We’re not just asking for more jobs. We’re asking for better opportunities — jobs that allow students to stay, grow, and contribute to Aotearoa; because right now, too many are leaving after graduation, not out of choice, but out of necessity.” 

VUWSA believes that if Aotearoa is serious about retaining its talent and revitalizing its communities, then we must invest in our young people — not only with education, but with real pathways to employment. Where’s the Work? is a campaign grounded in the belief that when students succeed, we all benefit. 

This is a call for employers, policymakers, and universities to step up — to support tauira in tangible ways, to value their contribution, and to build a future where they don’t just survive here but thrive here. 

We plan to launch this campaign with unmissable banners on the Terrace Tunnel and Parliament Lawn, dropping from 7:30am, Monday 7 July, 2025.  

Support the Where’s the Work campaign by signing our petition on ActionStation: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/where-s-the-work