The Federation was formed in 1968 of staff associations of Colleges of Advanced Education. From 1979 it was known as the Federation of College Academics and then from 1986 as the Federated Council of Academics. In February 1987 the Union of Australian College Academics was registered as a trade union but it appears that the Federated Council of Academics continued as a separate entity as it published a journal 'in association with the Union of College Academics' until 1993. In 1993 the Union of College Academics amalgamated with other unions to form the National Tertiary Education Industry Union.

The Federated Australian University Staff Association was originally formed in 1962 as the Australian Association of University Staff as the successor to the Federal Council of University Staff Associations of Australia. It was registered as a trade union in December 1986 and was renamed two years later to FAUSA. It represented mainly academic staff in the traditional university sector. By 1993, however, FAUSA recognised the need to form a single, stronger union for the whole tertiary education industry. Merging with the Union of Australian College Academics, the Australian Colleges and Universities Staff Association, the University of Adelaide General Staff Association and the Australian National University Administrative and Allied Officers' Association, FAUSA helped form the National Tertiary Education Industry Union. The NTEU provided a united voice for tertiary education workers, without the arbitrary divisions between different parts of the industry or different categories of workers.

The Union of Australian College Academics was registered in February 1987 to represent mainly academic staff in the Colleges of Advanced Education, following that membership base into the university sector as institutions amalgamated or changed their status. It ran concurrently with its predecessor the Federated Council of Academics until 1993. It merged with the Federated Australian University Staff Association, the Australian Colleges and Universities Staff Association, the University of Adelaide General Staff Association and the Australian National University Administrative and Allied Officers' Association to form the National Tertiary Education Industry Union in 1993.