Student Edge is an Australian student advocacy service, founded in 2003 in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, by university students. The organisation currently has approximately 1,100,000 members.

History

Founding

Student Edge claims to offer Australians participating in secondary,

tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

and

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

s/traineeships to register for Student Edge membership and take advantage of discounts, free job and internship search boards, career tips and well-being services. While it began with a $20 subscription cost as its initial business model, the model was upturned in 2006/2007, making the membership, as well as access to its exclusive deals and competitions, free. The company now relies on advertising and sponsorship for its revenue. Following this move, its membership flourished with major brands such as

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Boost Juice Boost Juice Bars is an Australian multinational retail outlet owned by parent company Retail Zoo that specialise in fruit juice and smoothies. Boost Juice Bars was formed in 2000 with the first store located in Adelaide, South Australia. The ...

and

Bankwest Bankwest is an Australian bank based in Perth, Western Australia. It was founded as the Agricultural Bank of Western Australia in 1895 by the Government of Western Australia being renamed the Rural and Industries Bank in 1944, and Bankwest in ...

- along with numerous Government agencies - coming on board to sponsor the company. The rise in popularity led to the company's national launch in August 2010.

National launch

On 27 August 2010, following a celebration at the

State library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Local Gover ...

, the company opened its membership to students across Australia. This roll-out increased the number of affiliated major brands, as well as the overall membership offering. By the end of 2011, Student Edge had 500,000 cardholders, making it the largest student member benefits organisation in the country and as of 2018, the company has more than 1,000,000 members nationwide.

Collaborations with schools

Student Edge's outreach team makes more than 100 visits to schools per year, educating students on social media responsibility and offering career tips. In 2014, Student Edge launched their annual Teacher of the Year competition, awarding NSW's

Sefton High School Sefton High School is a government-funded co-educational dual modality partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school, located in Sefton, a suburb in western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1961, t ...

history teacher Thomas Elley the inaugural prize.

YouthInsight

On 23 May, Student Edge's full-service market research arm YouthInsight unveiled Australia's inaugural Top 100 Youth Brands report at the Youth Marketing Australia conference in Melbourne. Based on a survey of more than 2,000 young people,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

was named the #1 brand among Australian youths. YouTube was also #1 in the Social Media and Apps category. Other category winners included

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

(Entertainment),

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

(Digital and Technology),

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

(Finance),

(Fast Food & Restaurants),

Dove (toiletries) Dove is a personal care brand owned by the British consumer goods company Unilever. Dove products are sold in more than 150 countries and are offered for women, men, babies and children. The brand's logo is a silhouette profile of the brand' ...

(Health & Beauty) and

Woolworths Supermarkets Woolworths (colloquially known as "Woolies") is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Group (Australia), Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924, Woolworths is currently Australia's largest supermarket chain with a market share of 32.5% ...

(Retail & Online Retail).

References

External links

* {{Customer loyalty programs Youth empowerment organizations Student organisations in Australia