Our History

Quality, equity and accessibility 

Besides representing the views, needs and perspectives of European students, ESU aims to ensure and strengthen students’ participation and to increase the student input into higher education policy and decision making at the local, national and European level.

ESU promotes a higher education system based on the values of quality, equity and accessibility for all.

Another important aim for ESU is to be renowned and respected as a source of expertise on higher education policy at all institutional levels and to build links and foster an exchange of information, ideas and experiences among students and student platforms at a regional and global level.

Delegations from the 44 national unions of students meet during ESU events that take place four times a year.The meetings give delegates the opportunity to meet face-to-face and create strength and unity. The most important meeting is the bi-annual Board Meeting which is the highest decision making body of ESU. During this meeting, ESU representatives are elected and policy priorities are decided upon. Each board meeting is preceded by a high-level seminar (the European Students’ Convention – ESC) to build knowledge and skills on a relevant topic. In 2010, these topics were the linkage between the Lisbon Agenda and the Bologna Process and student centred learning. The bi-annual ESCs are packed with training sessions, workshops and seminars to help unions both function better internally and perform better externally.

ESU regularly produces publications, such as the Student Centred Learning Toolkit (published in 2010) and provides training to increase the knowledge of the national students’ unions and provide them with valuable tools for their work. All written materials are provided free of charge, while attendance at training is heavily subsidised through projects that are mainly funded by the European Commission.

ESU was founded in 1982 by seven national unions of students (NSU Norway, NUS-UK, SFS Sweden, SHÍ Iceland, UNEF-ID France, DSF Denmark and ÖH Austria) and back then was called WESIB, the West European Student Information Bureau. The political changes in Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s affected WESIB as well, as it opened up itself to national unions of students from the former east.

In February 1990, WESIB dropped the “W” to become the European Student Information Bureau (ESIB). As the European Communities started to gain more influence on higher education in Europe and certainly with the start of the Bologna Process, the objective from just an information sharing organisation changed into to a political organisation that represents the views and interests of students.

At an extraordinary Board Meeting held in Florence, Italy, from 28 to 30 September 2014, it was decided to dissolve formally the organisation ESIB Austria.

On the 27th of December, the Belgian official registry (Moniteur Belge) announced the merger of ESIB – The National Union of Students in Europe and ESU – The European Students Union. Since then the two organisations are one legal entity which carries the name and abbreviation “The European Students Union- ESU”.

The last steps of the merger took place at the Extraordinary Board meetings in Cardiff October 2017 and at the regular Board meetings in Jerusalem in December 2017. On the 12th of December 10:00 the official rapporteur of both organisations, Caroline Sundberg got the notary’s declaration.

ESIB’s and ESU’s structures

The organisation operated on several levels before they were integrated gradually in one main Executive Committee, following exhaustive organisational reforms that were carried out in conjunction with the formation of the new European Students’ Union (ESU).

It is due to the generous contribution of student representatives to ESU’s work that the organisation became a major participant in policymaking processes in higher education in Europe. When ESU was still called WESIB and ESIB, the organisation was lead early on by National Unions of Students and later on by Directors together with Executive Committees until the formation of ESU in 2007. Since 2007 ESU has been led by a Presidency (President + 2 Vice Presidents) together with an Executive Committee as well as Coordinators. Mandates last a year, regularly starting in July and ending in June the following year.

To learn more about ESU’s current structure, including the contact details of ESU’s President, Vice Presidents and Executive Committee, click here.

Expand to see the list of ESU’s previous Executive constellations: