Oh, what a week as campuses adapt to VSU

FIRST-YEAR students are preparing for orientation week activities, but O-week is feeling the effects of voluntary student unionism.

THOUSANDS of first-year university students are preparing to indulge in traditional and not so traditional orientation week activities, from riding mechanical bulls to taking library tours to jumping on inflatable castles or even being tested for a sexually transmitted disease.

But O-week is feeling the effects of voluntary student unionism.

Student groups lament it has acquired a more corporate feel as student organisations seek to raise much-needed funds while universities treat it as a marketing exercise.

"You often have to navigate your way through the Virgin Mobile and Apple iPod stalls to get to the history appreciation society or the sports club stall," National Union of Students president Angus McFarland said.

"It is at risk of becoming a commercial youth expo. But that is the life after VSU."

Mr McFarland said that while some student unions had to turn to corporate sponsorship to raise funds, other universities had taken the lead and thrown money at their O-week.

"What we found with O-week is that because they are often a significant statement about campus life, it means a lot of universities have been keen to fund orientation week," he said.

"O-week is taken as quite a serious thing for university marketing and they want new students to feel they have a good campus life and culture."

Mr McFarland also said that O-week had become quite competitive, with universities not wanting to be beaten by their rival institutions.

He said the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland had taken the lead by funding O-week after the introduction of VSU, but the week often gave the wrong impression to first-year students that there were lots of services on campus: "O-week is a real deceptive thing when it comes to the impact of VSU."

Orientation week is already in full swing at some universities across Australia, while others will kick off activities and information sessions next week.

Universities in the ACT have begun celebrations in an unique style, with students offered free testing and treatment of chlamydia on campus as part of a project to try to stamp out the disease among young people.