The Australian Business Students' Association (ABSA) was created in February 2018 when Thomas G. Ryan joined with industry professionals to address the challenges which business students face, bridging both corporate and student perspectives. It was clear at the time that the graduate process lacked clarity, efficiency and transparency, which would subsequently leave students applying for graduate positions unsettled and disenfranchised with the system, or without the necessary insights to effectively progress.

 

Within months, ABSA grew rapidly with a team comprised of over 60 students and professionals from across Australia. ABSA has continued to deliver on its vision of equipping tomorrow's leaders with the opportunities to succeed through a strategy focused on serving Australian business students through development, networking and growth focus areas.

 

In 2020, ABSA underwent a restructure where instead of directly serving a student membership base, it would instead focus on supporting university business student societies in their efforts to serve students at the respective universities across Australia. This was an important step in ABSA’s journey as it allowed the organisation to rethink its strategic focus and redeploy its efforts towards larger scale intervarsity events and programs.

 

Today, ABSA stands as the leading representative network for business students across Australia and is proud to work with member societies, universities, corporations, and industry bodies, to address the challenges between business students and a competitive corporate sector. Across its member societies, as at the end of calendar year 2022, ABSA represents the interests of over 30,000 business students across Australia.