ESU organises European Student Conventions twice yearly. The Convention is almost always held in the country hosting the EU Presidency. These European Student Conventions give the opportunity to gather students together from across Europe outside the statutory meetings of ESU. They create the possibility of discussing issues relating to students at greater depth.

The first Convention was launched under the French Presidency of the EU in Paris in November 2000 bringing togther hundreds of students from around Europe. The first Convention created a Student Manifesto which was presented to the Council of Education Ministers.

The second Convention was held in Göteborg under the Swedish Preidency of the EU and resulted in Göteborg Student Declaration presented to the Prague Ministerial Sumit in May 2001.

The third European Student Convention was held in November 2001 in Brussels under the Belgian Presidency of the EU on the topic of the Social Implications of the Bologna Process and also started ESIB's discussion on the Future of Europe.

The fourth European Student Convention was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia hosted by CSU in partnership with the Croatian Government. This Convention formed the student input into the Council of Europe's International Conference on "Recognition Issues in the Bologna Process"

The fifth European Student Convention was held in Athens, Greece in February 2003 under the Greek Presidency of the EU on the topic of "How to achieve a genuine student mobility". This Convention formed the student input into the Berlin Ministerial Summit in September 2003 that is part of the process leading to the creation of a European Higher Education Area by 2010.

The sixth European Student Convention took place under the italian EU presidency in Palermo, Italy in October 2003 hosted by UDU on the subject of "The role of higher education in the knowledge-based society: objectives for 2010."

The seventh European Student Convention was held in Dublin, Ireland in February 2004 under the Irish Presidency of the EU on the topic of "National Qualifications Framework and Student Involvement within the European Higher Education Area", an emerging topic after the ministerial summit in Berlin in September 2003.

The eight European Student Convention was held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in December 2004 under the Dutch presidency of the EU on the topic of "Building a Democratic University".

The ninth European Student Convention was held in Luxembourg in March 2005 under the the Luxembourgish presidency of the he EU under the topic of "Financing of higher education".

The tenth European Student Convention was held in London, UK in December 2005 under the topic of "Taking Higher Education to the Third Level"

The eleventh European Student Convention was held in Vienna, Austria in March 2006, with the aim of discussing Student' Active participation in the Lisbon Strategy.

The 12th European Student Convention was held in Helsinki, Finland in October 2006, with the aim of discussing Higher Education Beyond 2010.

The 13th European Student Convention was held in Bernilie, Germany, in March 2007, with the topic: Students Taking Stock.

The 14th European Student Convention was held in Lisbon, Portugal in October 2007, with the topic: The Lisbon Agenda of the European Union.

The 15th European Student Convention was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in March 2008. The topic was: Students for Democracy.

The 16th European Student Convention was held in Lille, France in October 2008. It was the Conference of the Mobility Campaign. 

The 17th European Student Convention was held in Prague, Czech Republic, in February 2009.  The theme of the conference was 'Student empowerment through participation at national, continental and global level'. The Convention was kindly supported by the European Youth Foundation (EYF), a fund established in 1972 by the Council of Europe to provide financial support to European youth activities.