CAPA

About CAPA

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), is the peak body representing Australia's 257,000 postgraduate students. CAPA was founded in 1979 by a number of postgraduate associations to represent the interests of postgraduate students nationally. In 2006, CAPA has 33 member postgraduate associations, as well as the National Indigenous Postgraduate Association Aboriginal Corporation (NIPAAC).

CAPA's main role is to represent the interests and concerns of postgraduate students to the Federal government, Federal Opposition and minor parties, and higher education peak bodies such as the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC). Where there are common interests, CAPA works in collaboration with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the National Union of Students (NUS). Issues addressed by CAPA recently include:

• successfully lobbying for amendments to taxation legislation to ensure that postgraduate scholarships remain tax-exempt;
• lobbying the Federal government to increase funding for postgraduate research
• lobbying against increases in fee-paying for postgraduate coursework;
• conducting research into levels of resources, materials and facilities available to postgraduate students, and preparing a statement of minimum resources;
• fighting against the abolition of Abstudy for Indigenous postgraduates.

The National Office of CAPA is located in Melbourne, with 1 full-time staff member, 2 part-time staff, and a full-time President. CAPA has an Executive Committee of 8 members, and is organised into five regions with a Regional Secretary, a Women's Officer, an Indigenous Officer, and an International Student Officer for each region.

For more information on CAPA please visit its web site.

CAPAnews

CAPA now publishes a monthly newsletter, CAPAnews to keep affiliates posted on events, activities and information relevant to the CAPA community. You can read PDF copies of CAPAnews on the CAPAnews archive.

CAPA and WUPA

WUPA is affiliated with CAPA, which entitles it to full voting rights at meetings of CAPA. WUPA sent delegates to the recent CAPA SCM in Melbourne; a report will appear here shortly. We have also attended all the Eastern Region meetings (the region that covers NSW universities). And finally, the 2006 president of CAPA, Jason Hart, is a Wollongong student and member of WUPA; he was president of WUPA in 2004–2005.

Related Topics

• About WUPA